It's Magic, It's Alice, It's Real
by stars-dream18
Summary: Mikan never thought that her life will change forever because of one word : Alice. From the girl with family conflicts, school issues, she encounters reality, revealed secrets, love, and danger. Imagination coming true, and becoming superheroes? Might be.
1. The Prologue

**~ It's Magic, It's Alice, It's Real ~**

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

* * *

Mikan never thought that her life will change forever because of one word : Alice. From the girl with family conflicts, school issues, she encounters reality, revealed secrets, love, and danger. Imagination coming true, and becoming superheroes? Might be.

* * *

PROLOGUE

**`Saturday, November 13th 2008`**

They say life is too short. But never even once that phrase came into my mind, until these past days.

I glanced over at my surroundings. Everybody wears black. Black blouse, black shirt, black skirt, black pants, black heels, black shoes, black purse. Everything's black. Even Tanaka-san, my Nanny, who despise dark colors, is wearing a long black dress and a pair of black low heels.

My dress is also black. This morning, Nanny gave it to me and told me to wear it, and I just took it without a word. It's actually very pretty, with gray laces at the bottom and a few ribbons at the waist line and at the collar. I also wear my plain black flat shoes. My hair, which is tied in pigtails as usual, is tied with dark black rubber bands. Unfortunately, despite of my beautiful outfit, I don't care whether I should dress prettily today.

The adults who come in the ceremony always look at the-twelve-year-old me with sympathy and concern. Some of them are honestly giving their sympathy and condolences. But some of them are only sweet talking in front of me, then they sit on the chairs to laugh with their friends.

A bald man, the priest, said a few words from the Bible, and how they may rest in peace. Yes, hopefully _they_ may rest in peace. I wonder where they are now. Are they watching me right now? Do they actually want to leave me here? Are they happy? Why did they leave me behind?

Do they know that I'm still too young to be left alone?

Do they realize that I miss them badly right now?

Too many questions lingered unanswered.

If only I knew that this is going to happen, I would try harder to become a better daughter for them. If only I could spend _just_ one more day with them, to tell them how much I love them. _If only_….

"Here," a woman's voice whispered in my ear. I look at my right, and see a cream colored handkerchief being stretched at me. I lift my gaze up, and see a blurry sight of Nanny. She forced out a smile, and slowly wipe my tears away. I didn't even realize I was crying. I tried to smile back at her, but I just couldn't change my expression. I could only stare at her with an unpredictable look.

A new and fresh hole on the ground is in front of me, and now, a few men are lifting a big white coffin, with beautiful carvings on every sides. The upper part is made of glass, and I can clearly see a pair of man and woman laid there. I can feel my eyes sting, as I tiptoed slowly, to see them clearly for the last time.

The man, with pale bronze hair that reaches the back of his neck, wears a pure white tuxedo -from the shirt, the jacket, the pants, and even the tie- and a pair of white shoes. Next to him, is a gorgeous woman with long chestnut hair who wears a long white dress that fits her perfectly, with a pair of white flat shoes made of soft fabric. She holds a bouquet of white roses and lilies, with a few stalks of small orange daisies, her favorite flower.

They both have their eyes closed, but I clearly know that the man has deep sky blue pair of irises, while the woman has light brown irises. The two of them look so perfect together, as if they were just married. But the truth speaks the other way around. After today, I can never see them in person again. Ever.

Their coffin is now inside the hole, and my chest feels really hurt to see them so far away. The priest say another few words before he look at me, and said, "Mikan, this is your last chance to say your last words of goodbye."

Tears started to fall down from my eyes, as my body started to tremble. Nanny immediately holds my shoulder, trying to stop me from collapsing. I slowly opened my mouth, but not a single word came out. I felt a lump on my throat, and my stomach feels really hurts as if I wanted to vomit. I sniffed and cleared my throat badly, and said in a shaking voice, "I…I just want to say…to th-them…that I love you mom..and I love you dad..always…forever…I'm sorry if I ever did any mistake in the past….and..a-and..-"

After that, all of the walls I've built since this morning collapsed as I started to cry my heart out. Nanny hugs me in her embrace, and I desperately hold and hug her back.

The few people that came started to whisper, some of them -the females- started to cry as well, but for me, I feel the world's turned to silence and I could only hear my sobs. Memories of my parents started to flow in my head and I cried harder. How they smiled at me, hugged me at night, listened at my stories about my school life…it just wouldn't stop. I tried to stop thinking of them, but the memories just get more vivid every second.

I started to loosen my grip on Nanny, but she still holds me carefully, as if I'm very fragile and I could break any second. I looked at my parents for the last time, "I-I h-hope you are happy th-there. I will never…_ever_.. forget you both," My sight blurred again, as warm tears started to fall again on my cheek. I took a deep breath to ease the pain in my head, but it didn't work. "Thank you mom. And thank you dad. Thank you for everything you've done for me. Goodbye…"

Another adults started to make short speech of their experiences and memories with my parents. But I still hear nothing. I just look at the coffin solemnly. It's hard to see the people you love disappear in a sudden from you. It's too fast.

A while later, a few men started to bury them with the reddish-brown soil ground. I restrained myself to scream at them to stop because my father and mother's figures started to disappear from my sight. But I felt so weak and helpless, thus I could only see the ground sadly.

Never have I imagined, that at the age of twelve, was the last time I saw my parents in this world. And ever since, my wheel of life turned with no direction.

* * *

"How are you today, Mikan-chan?"

I shot a small smile at him, and replied in a small voice, "Good."

He smiled back at me and said, "I know it might be early to discuss this, but under the circumstances you're having, we can not delay this important matter. Your parents are the owner of _big_ companies, so to maintain the companies' productivity, we must discuss this matter as quickly as possible."

I nodded unwillingly at him, and I know he can see the uneasy feeling I have.

It is rather complicated to handle the up going situation, I bet, since to leave big companies with no owner or rightful authorities, there might be chaos happening.

Yoruku Kierachi sighed deeply and continued, "I'm sorry, Mikan. I know that it is hard for you to talk about your parents' properties and your inheritance, _and_you're still very young, but I'll try to make it a fast discussion and understandable for you, okay?"

Of course it is hard. It hasn't even been a week since the funeral, and my condition is still…._unstable_. But of course, the world of adults are different from my will.

I nodded again, confused of his difficult words, and decided to say, "Thank you, Yoruku-san."

You're strong, Mikan, you can do this.

"No problem, Mikan. Do you want to see when the discussion's going on, or-"

"I want to see when the discussion happen." I said firmly.

They're going to discuss _my_ parents' properties, so I would be insane if I do not join them, although I might _not_ understand their conversation.

"Excuse me, Yoruku-san, but they have arrived." Suddenly, Nanny went inside the room, and Yoruku-san stood up to walk to the door.

A man and a woman walked in, and I can't help but being curious.

_Who are they?_

The man, who has light gray hair and a pair of gray eyes, is wearing a suit, and not a fancy one for sure since it looks kind of dull. He might be on a lunch hour, since it's 12.00 p.m now. While the woman…well..she's….uh..shortly, I don't like her much. She wears heavy make ups, with shocking red lipstick that you can spot from 10 meters away, with clothes which looks really expensive -on the contrary with the man-, and has ugly beige colored hair, which is in high ponytail now. Her big and long earrings are dangling, and it only made me feel uncomfortable.

She held her head high, while observing the room's decorations and design. And from the look on her face, she seems to be judging this room. Meanwhile, the man looks very impatient, he keeps on looking at the watch on his wrist.

Yoruku-san asked them to sit, and finally introduced them to me, "So, Mikan-chan, they are your Uncle and Aunt, Sasuko and Matsuki Nakigawa. Matsuki-san here is your mother's older sister."

I stretched my hand to shake their hands. Uncle shook my hand almost immediately, indicating that he wants to get out of here _fast._ I stretched my hand at Auntie, but she looks at my hand, then trace my face, and finally held her hand at me with elegant posture, deciding that my hand is not _dirty_.

I blinked a few times at her reaction. _What the-?_

I gulped and shook her hand unsurely. Yoruku-san smiled at me, telling me that I did a polite job, and he finally started the real discussion.

His face turned really serious, "Without any hesitation, I will say this bluntly. After Izumi and Yuka Yukihira passed away, Mikan Yukihira, their daughter, is all alone now. She needs to be taken care of by her relatives, or she will have to go to the orphanage."

I bulged my eyes in shock and immediately stared at him with disbelieve. I didn't think of this before, and he _never_ told me about it for sure.

He gave me a weak smile, as I bit my lip and started fidgeting my fingers.

Will they adopt me? Or will I go to the orphanage?

I took a glance at them, who are looking _really _annoyed, surprised, and angry, and started to whisper with each other.

Oh dear, they don't look so happy with that idea.

"Doesn't she have any other relatives?" Matsuki-san squint her eyes at Yoruku-san, who replied smoothly, "She has an Uncle, from her father's side, but he didn't _or_ hasn't get married. From my point of view, as well as the court's decision, it would be best to raise little Mikan within a complete family, that is consists of a father and a mother."

Auntie let out a small shriek when Yoruku-san said the word 'mother', and it only made my chest panged.

I looked at them hopefully, who looked back at me with hatred.

"We don't need any _kid_ to interfere our peaceful life." Uncle started to speak.

I quiver lightly at his word. So that's how they see me, a 'turbulence'. No more than that. No pity at the small girl who just lost her parents. No caring for their own small relative.

Yoruku-san looked at them in disbelieve, "But she's your nephew !" He said with a higher voice, which made me winced. I immediately tug his shirt lightly, and give him a head shake.

Maybe orphanage is my next and best destination after all.

"Yes, but we need to spend more money for her as well ! We already have all the financial _troubles_ we need without _her_ help. I have many debts to pay since I picked out a wife who couldn't stop spending the limited money on expensive things ! I have enough troubles to handle here !" Uncle said icily, as he stared at Auntie who rolled her eyes, then he glared at me.

I gulped and said softly, "I-It's okay, Y-Yoruku-san…I-I'll go to the orphanage..."

I don't have other choice, do I? Maybe orphanage is not a bad place in reality, unlike in the movies…. I hope...

He looked at me sadly and said, "Sorry Mikan, but this is the court's decision."

I blinked a few times, trying to process his words, as he continued, "As you all can see, the Yukihira Corporation has a developing and promising business industries. They had a number of big companies and a few large factories as well, and they _all_ are inherited to Mikan."

Before I can even think of anything, Yoruku-san said, "Unfortunately, she will be able to run the company when she reaches the age of 20. Until then, the companies will be taken care by her caretakers."

That time, I swear I saw Auntie's eyes glint and her lips pursed a big grin, while Uncle looked surprised.

"With those incomes of the business, you both can cover Mikan's daily needs, plus you can enjoy the money as well, that is until Mikan reaches the age of twenty." He finally ended his sentence, leaving everyone in the room dumbfounded.

I don't know what to think. Everything's coming together. My mind's all blank, but I could only feel one thing.

Not good.

Slowly, I dare myself to look at Uncle and Auntie's reaction now. I think I know what will their response be, although I _really_ hope from the deepest part of my heart that my prediction is wrong.

My heart immediately fell when I saw Auntie looked really happy. She started to chat excitedly about getting rich with Uncle, who nods and agrees with her words.

_They are going to adopt me._

Unfortunately, I heard a glimpse of Auntie saying one thing that makes me shivers.

'Eight more years.'

That's twenty minus my age now.

I felt a pat on my shoulder, and I realized that Yoruku-san is comforting me.

"Try to survive, alright?" he half joked-half advised me.

I nodded stiffly, and whispered, "D-do I have to live with them?"

"They will stay here." He replied. I looked at him with pleading look, "D-don't-"

"I'm sorry Mikan. I'm so sorry." I closed my eyes, and he whispered, "Maybe they're not so bad in real life."

I looked at Uncle and Auntie who are in their own world now, chatting about the lift of their living standard, before I said, "Did they come at my parents' funeral?"

Silence.

Then, I looked at Yoruku-san, only to find him looking sadly at me, and shook his head slowly.

I knew it.

If only I knew about the inheritance, I would _beg_ the court to put me in the orphanage. Now my so called relatives will take the benefit of my parents' hard works while they don't even care about my father and mother at all.

"You're special Mikan." Yoruku-san suddenly said.

I looked at him with confusion. _Special?_

"Well, at least that's what I read from your parents' letter to you. Sorry I read it." Yoruku-san gave me a small envelope, and I looked at him with more confusion.

"We found it on your parents' room. It's addressed to you. I think they prepared it in case…_something_ happened." He continued, while I observe carefully the white envelope with my full name written on it. It's mom's handwriting.

"Why special?" I asked him slowly, while he slightly lift his shoulders, "I don't know. But from what people said, or you can say, the rumors I heard from the police and their colleagues, they keep on saying that, 'The Yukihiras are special' or something like that. Most of the talks indicate that there's something…different about you and your parents that only a few number of people know. It's a secret."

I looked at him with disbelieve. Is that true? I mean, I _am _special? But how?

"But, Mikan. Just don't tell anyone about it, okay? I'm not sure either, but something tells me that you better keep it for yourself."

I nodded slowly at him, and promised to myself.

It's a secret.

But is it true? I'll just have to find out.

* * *

my deepest apology for the very late update :(

also, i revised the first chapter into a prologue, so the story can come out clear ^^

i'm almost done editing (and changing the characters) of the first chapter, hope it can come out soon.

i really hope you enjoy this prologue, and i really appreciate if you'll leave a review, so i would know what should i 'do' with this story :)

thanks a lot for reading, and sorry for any grammatical errors XD

~best regards, stars-dream18~


	2. Party and Bullshit

**~ It's Magic, It's Alice, It's Real ~**

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

* * *

Mikan never thought that her life will change forever because of one word : Alice. From the girl with family conflicts, school issues, she encounters reality, revealed secrets, love, and danger. Imagination coming true, and becoming superheroes? Might be.

* * *

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

- Peter Drucker -

* * *

CHAPTER I

**`Sunday, June 17th 2009`**

"Is that clear ?"

I swiped my dull gaze to the woman in front of me and said, "Yes."

She sighed with an uncomfortable look and continued, "Just remember, Mikan.." She paused slowly, "Never, _ever_, tell anyone about this matter. Understand?"

I frowned at her and protested, "Why? It is the truth after all. I am _not_ your daughter-"

Auntie looked at me with hatred as I stood there in silence before I finished my sentence. Her hand, the one that just left a painful red mark on my right cheek, still dangled in the air. Although, she nonetheless looked as if nothing just happened.

"Unfortunately, you are my daughter _now_, and the otherwise is a taboo. _Never_ said what you just said. And from now on, you must call me 'Mom'. Every single soul out there must think that you are my legitimate daughter, is that clear?" She said louder as I nodded slowly while biting my lower lip.

"Remember, what I say is absolute." She continued as I tried to keep my mouth shut from yelling at her. Who will not be mad if they're treated like animals ? Like _this_?

As if on cue, the front door opened slowly, making bright lights poured inside as I squinted my eyes for the brightness. A small figure caught my eye between the door. Her long hair waved in slow motion, while she walked in a confident way into the house. That time, all I could think was she looked like a model –without any make up—from the kids magazines I often read. Behind her, Uncle's figure showed up while smiling happily.

Suddenly, the woman beside me walked at the model figure with glee, "Aya-chan ! You're finally here ! How was your trip from the orphanage?"

I tilted my head curiously. Just who is that girl ? From the orphanage she said ?

"It was great." She replied in such a soft voice that could make other's hearts melt.

A few moments after that, her black irises met my brown ones as she looked at me with interest.

Uncle, who noticed her look, immediately said, "Aya-chan, meet Mikan, your new sister."

I blinked numerous times, making sure that this was not a dream and I just heard right.

"She-she's my _what_?" I unconsciously choked loudly as I looked at Uncle, then at Auntie- I mean, _Mom_, with disbelieve.

I thought they dislike children, seeing their attitude towards me all this time.

_Mom_ glared at me sharply as I remember her words, '_Remember, what I say is absolute'_

I slowly looked at Uncle and asked, "But why?"

He looked at me from the corner of his eyes, "Simple. She's beautiful and talented. She will _finally_bring honor and good reputation to this family."

Such casual words that he said actually made me dumbfounded. I suddenly remembered all of the bad scores that the teachers gave to them since last month, all of the nights that they lectured me to not embarrass the family name, and all of the 'obey us and you won't get hurt' rules.

I gulped silently, I know I'm not a genius or particularly beautiful whatsoever, but I never thought that they thought I'm such a disgrace to this 'family'.

The girl, Aya, slowly looked at me with a judging look, but I just pretended I didn't see anything.

"So, Aya-chan.." _Mom_ said with the same bright smile at her, "From today onward, your name is Aya Nakigawa, a member of our Nakigawa family."

* * *

**3 years later**

* * *

06.30 in the morning, and the girl in her middle sixteen was still sleeping soundlessly in her big comfortable bedroom. The room was typical ; with plain broken white paint, a wooden wardrobe, flowery cream curtains, a table fully occupied with books, chairs, and a simple tall mirror next to the dress up table. The wall was plain as there were no posters taped on it, and so was the decorations, just one or two small frames and a light yellow colored clock that was shaped and carved with circles. Nothing actually stood out besides her curled body on the queen sized bed with a few fluffy pillows scattered around her.

Her alarm from her cell phone had actually rung about half an hour before, but nevertheless, she just ignored it like always until it stopped by itself. Sleeping was _definitely_ one of her weaknesses.

After a while later, a few knocks were heard, banging her door, but she didn't move an inch. It seemed that the person behind the door grew impatient with the passive reaction and slammed the door open.

"Mikan ! You're late ! _Again_!" An old woman in her 50's said loudly, trying to make the brunette on the bed respond to her words. Tanaka Yamada put her hands on her hips and shook her head with a sigh. After all these years, her young mistress still hadn't learned to wake up on time at school days. Giving up, Tanaka swiftly took the blanket that covered Mikan's body and said louder, "Don't make me pour cold water on you, young lady. I bet you still remember how it felt like."

Mikan slowly groaned and said, "Come on, five more min-"

"_Now_." Tanaka's red cheek seemed to puff, before she went out of the room and said, "It's already 06.40 now. _She's_ going to be mad at you again."

Mikan sighed in defeat as she stretched her body and swung her arms to the air quickly. Today is going to be just the same as yesterday,anyway, she thought. It had always been the same, since the day she became Mikan Nakigawa and left her old life forever.

* * *

A woman in her middle 40's sat in the dining table, as she was drinking a few diet pills of hers. She had a shiny blonde hair that reached her shoulders, although the color looked unreal. She was wearing a fancy sleeveless top made of silk, and a pair of dark satin shorts, which made her look like the kind of woman who select their fashion pieces thoroughly.

She looked rather pissed, before she finally said in a clear voice, "Where is that little girl? Late again? Tsk."

The teenage girl beside her just rolled her eyes and said, "Mom, she's not _little_ anymore. Heck, she's even older than me."

The woman just shook her head in disagreement, "Yet you are _more_ perfect than her in everything, dear. You know that."

Tanaka, the maid who has worked in that very house for 15 years took a short glance at her with hatred. She had never expected that the antagonist characters in fairytales could come to life, until Matsuki Nakigawa became her new mistress.

"You're exaggerating, mother." The teenage girl replied with a humble tone, but on the contrast, a dark victorious smile started to form on her lips. She never lost to her sister after all, and she never will. These two years of adapting to this wealthy lifestyle had made her reputation gotten better, and thus she won't let _anything_ got in her ways.

Tanaka rolled her eyes this time. Even though not related by blood, these two ladies have the very same character.

"Not really, it's the truth anyway-" The woman paused as she saw her _other_ daughter walked down the stairs. "Oh, I thought you'll never came."

Mikan who had reached the last step of the stairs just lift her shoulders and said, "Of course I will." She sat on the empty chair, and quickly ate one of her favorite breakfast, pancake with generous amount of maple syrup.

The teenage girl looked at Mikan with a frown for a while, then shook her head as she examined her appearance. "I always wonder _why_ you always look so…." She frowned a little bit, thinking of the perfect word to describe Mikan.

"Hideous." Matsuki-san spat the words, while Aya, the teenage girl, shook her head again, "Close, but no. The word should be 'horrible'. You just wouldn't change, would you, _sister_?" Aya just couldn't stand her older sister's messy ponytails and dorky glasses, as she would _not_ let her high class fashion stoop that low. It was embarrassing to have such a badly-fashioned sister, because it might taint her flawless reputation at school.

Mikan who didn't pay attention to the conversation quickly stood up and said, "Are you done talking? Or are we going to school?"

Aya smiled and stood up, making it obvious that she was taller than Mikan although she was younger, and said, "Bye mom. Love you."

Matsuki-san took a newspaper on the top of the dining table and said, "Bye honey, love you too."

Mikan went to the door as well, following Aya, and said, "Bye Nanny, bye mom."

Tanaka, who has been called Nanny by her little mistress since the first time she saw her, smiled at her in return, while Matsuki didn't even take her glance off of the newspaper to reply her daughter.

* * *

Although it was still early in the morning, the Alice Academy already looked lively as if it was already noon. Many people, mostly adults and teenagers, walked all around the places, towards their working places or meeting points.

Common people know Alice Academy as a place under the government that's made for geniuses to know, learn, and master their abilities well. It was stated that only a few selected people -whom they called 'talented' people- could attend the academy. Many people in their productive age -teens and adults- are curious to enter the academy or work inside, but unfortunately, people do not choose to enter the Academy, they're _chosen_ to enter it.

The other mystery for everyone in the city is that they barely know anyone who enter the Alice Academy. Only the faces of the leaders, whom they call the Principals, were often showed up in the news ; which are only on very special occasions too ; while the rest of the members are completely unknown. Not only the members, nobody even know where is the location of Alice Academy.

On the present day, a few teenagers consisted of two boys and two girls were gathering in one of the meeting rooms in hurry. All of them looked serious, and all of them were still about sixteen to seventeen in age. They all wore different school uniforms, indicating that they were not entering the same school. Two adults came into the room, and gave them a black folder with a small yellow star mark in the middle, and has a bold red letter 'A' in the middle of the star.

"Morning everyone, before we proceed, let me check your identities." One of the adults, a woman with blonde hair in neat ponytail and wore spectacles said while opening a small note on her hand.

"All of you, are," she paused while taking a glance at the teens from her note, "The Prophet, the Silvestris, the Black Cat, and the Falcion."

The four teenagers nodded their head, as the woman continued, "Good. All the information you need are inside the folder like usual. Blueprints, securities, targets, everything. Learn them carefully like you've been taught, and good luck."

The male adult with blonde hair beside the woman cleared his throat and shot a big grin, "That's right kids. Today's mission is only a piece of cake. If you guys fail, then we won't cover your absents in your schools." He tried to look serious, but the rest of them just looked at him with a weird look, so he let out a rather girly laugh, "Hahaha, just kidding… Bye then !" He continued, before both of the adults started to walk away.

The four teens looked at each other before one of them said, "Piece of cake, huh? That's good."

"Really? _Their_ 'piece of cake' is different than ours. And this time, there's only four of us in the team. Nightmare I tell you."

"Yeah, totally terrible. And I'm supposed to have a Chemistry test today ! Geez, I studied all night long for nothing."

"Whatever. Just hurry up so we can get back soon."

"Woah, man, it's so not _you_ to be full of spirit."

"Shut up."

"Wait a sec...I just remembered! You also got the invitation to tonight's party, right? Right?"

"Woww, a party ? Can I come ?"

"I guess. No one will notice that you're not invited anyway. I heard she even invited _strangers,_ can you imagine? For the sake of making her party more crowded, geez. Tonight's gonna be crazy !"

"Wait, I'm not surprised if _you_ go to parties. But _him_? Dude, since when do _you_ want to go to crazy parties?"

"My parents threatened me. She's one of the High Society's daughter. Hell."

"Woah, lucky you, to have parents in the High Society."

"Lucky my ass. Let's switch places."

"Alright alright, let's grab the weapons and leave."

"Yeah, we don't want to be late for the party, now, do we?"

* * *

A black polished Jaguar obviously captured the attention of the students in front of Tokyo All Girls High School (nicknamed as TAG High) although it had already showed up almost every day since the past year. Two girls at their second year of high school went out of the passenger seats and swiftly made their way to the entrance gate.

Aya, being the clever, beautiful, and popular girl, almost immediately surrounded by her schoolmates who admire her so much as she stepped inside the school ground. Meanwhile, Mikan, who was just an ordinary student at the very strict and one of the best schools in Tokyo, just calmly walked towards her class, which was unfortunately for her, the same class with her sister. Many girls actually passed her by, and she greeted some of them. But of course, she was not as popular as her sister, and she hoped that she will never be.

Mikan just quietly went to her seat, but as she looked at the seat in front of her, she squinted her eyes. _How can the owner of the seat in front of her hasn't come yet?_ She had a bad feeling and took a glance at the clock in the front of the class.

06.57 a.m.

She let out a groan and quickly swoop her cell phone from her light orange backpack. No messages. She immediately pushed the buttons on her phone, typing a short message quickly, and clicked the send button.

_To : Permy_

_I can't believe you'll skip today's chemistry test! Smartass, skipping school again? Great, leaving me by myself again here :(_

_Back / Send_

Mikan just let out a small sigh, and put her phone back to her backpack. Actually, she had never been the anti-social type, or the most outgoing one either, but after their first year together, her closest friend is Permy who is luckily has the same class as her. Unfortunately, the girl hadn't shown up at class, or most likely would _not_ show up for the entire day at all.

Before she managed to think what to do next, a girl with shoulder length jet black hair approached her table with a sweet smile. In return, Mikan let out a forced smile at the girl. This young lady was definitely _not _in her friend- to-meet list.

After she reached her table, Wakako Usami said in a cheerful tone, "Mikan ! I just wanted to remind you, to not forget to come to my fabulous sweet sixteen party tonight, okay? I believe I gave you the invitation last week." She paused a while when Mikan nodded her head, then continued, "Tonight's gonna be the best night of your life ! Trust me. Besides…my parents will be glad to see both daughters of the Nakigawa family to come too. Since your sister already said yes anyway, then you must come too, okay?" She winked in a girly way while finishing her words.

"Sure, I'll be there." Replied Mikan in her same plain tone. With that, Wakako smiled again and said before left her alone, "Great, see you later!"

Mikan just groaned silently after she left. Heck, that girl actually invited her only because her Nakigawa family is in the High Society list (as well as the Usami family) which are the names of people who are categorized as successful, powerful, and having influence in economical industries in Tokyo.

Besides having a famous family, Wakako, in fact, is a member of the cheerleader squad in TAG school, which is called the Blister. A lot of people found the name unique and immediately thought about swirling winds, which is the appearance that the members try to make for the crowd. They had been using the same name for the 122-year-old-school since the cheerleader group was first formed. The cheerleaders often competed in many championships and had won numerous times as well. That year, the team's captain was nonetheless Mikan's sister, Aya Nakigawa, who became even more popular with the captain title in their second year of high school.

Unfortunately for Mikan, she became popular too ; as Aya's boring and loner sister. But she never bothers of what people think of her, as long as she became herself in any ways.

* * *

The sky was really clear and bright, especially in the west suburb of Tokyo, where there were less pollution than inside the crowded city of Tokyo. The air was peaceful, and no buzzing sounds of the traffic were heard. Right over there, stood a 12 storey mirror-glass building with nothing to make it stand out. People could see their own reflection from outside, but they definitely couldn't peak inside. There was actually no windows in the building, but the mirror-glass interior make it looked pretty normal from outside.

Little did the people inside the building knew, that four teenagers had sneaked inside. These teens are not just any ordinary teens, since they were sent from _the_ Alice Academy. What are they doing? Simple actually, just taking a valuable computer chip from the safety vault as they were being told.

The teenagers first thought that it was going to be easy in the end, because the safety vault weren't guarded well ; they already managed to take the computer chip after they cracked the vault's code only. Unfortunately, they were proven wrong, not long after that, the securities realized that the chip had been gone from their security camera and immediately alerted their security guards as the teenagers were all trying to make their escape from the building.

"Damn it ! They saw us !" Kitsu Neme, a sixteen years old boy with light golden brown hair yelled, signaling his comrades to stay alerted of the securities who spotted them and were starting to chase after them. The three teens in front of him, who was wearing their Alice Uniform like he was, immediately ran to get out of the building as fast as possible. The worst possible thing that could happen to them was if they were _caught_, and they would never let _that _happen.

[ #1. Alice Uniform : Uniforms made with modified fabric that all of the members of Alice Academy must wear on missions. Since it's modified, the fabric is definitely stronger, lighter, and more flexible to wear. There are many types of uniforms, adjusted on their Alice, age and missions. In normal missions, they will wear uniforms that matches their occupation (students or workers). While in special missions, they will wear special uniforms as well that suits their missions. ]

The boys wore white collared top, with a small Alice Academy emblem (a yellow star with bold red 'A' letter) on their left chest. They also wore black blazer with red linings over the white shirt, a pair of long dark red plaid trousers, a pair of black modified Converse, and a black belt.

The girls wore the similar things, such as white collared top with the Alice Academy emblem and black blazer with red linings. They also wore mid-thigh length dark red plaid skirt, with a pair of tight legging underneath that reaches their knee, a pair of black modified Converse, and also a black belt.

"Yura ! Behind you !" One of the girls, Sumire Shouda, who is known as Permy because her black greenish hair is styled in perms, screamed at the other girl, who replied with a smirk, "I know."

With that, the girl, Yura Otoonoshi who has long white golden hair, did a round kick that made one of the Fukutai, the people who wore security-like uniform and were supposed to guard the building, fell to the floor with pain.

They all ran again, trying to find a shortcut to the way out. Unfortunately, everything was just like a maze, there were many corridors and doors, but no windows and no signs of exit.

"Hey, Permy .This is the right time to use your Alice, you know ?" Kitsu said while panting.

"I know, I know ! I'm leading us to the right track." Permy panickly replied. She transformed into her Cat-Dog Alice form, which makes a pair of cat ears and a cat tail appears on her head and below her back, and her hands changed into dog paws. She started to run with four legs, and continued to search for the exit track. Well, she has the cat and dog abilities after all.

Suddenly, a lot of Fukutai came from behind them while pointing their guns. They didn't shoot, _yet_. "Stop, you little brats ! Give the _computer chip_ back you damn thieves !" One of the Fukutai, who seemed like the leader, yelled angrily, and shot them with his guns on both hands.

"Shit ! That was close!" Kitsu, who just dodged a bullet yelled in surprise.

After that, all of the Fukutai started to pull out their guns and began shooting. And finally, the last lad in that team, nonetheless Natsume Hyuuga, finally spoke, "Yura, what did you see?"

"Keep running, nothing's gonna happen for now." Yura Otoonoshi yelled back at him while focusing on her power. The four of them kept on running, following Permy who leaded in front. Suddenly, Yura said loudly, "Kitsu ! Guns at 5 o'clock !"

"Got it !" Kitsu yelled back, and immediately dodged numerous bullets that almost hit his back by doing a back-flip with his Flying Alice. The Fukutai hesitated for a second, astounded by Kitsu's Alice, but immediately chased them again after their leader yelled at them to keep on running.

Swiftly, Kitsu pulled out two Semi Automatic guns from his Alice Belt under his blazer, and began shooting in return while running backwards. It seemed that the black belt that they were all wearing are not just any ordinary belt either.

[ #2. Alice Belt : A multifunction belt that can be used for many things, such as the place to put weapons, Alice Stones, knives, and others. It can also be used as grappling hook, whip, rope, and many others. ]

A few men got hit by Kitsu's bullets, and the number of people started to decrease, for they are trying to help their comrades.

Yura said, "That'll do it, Kitsu !"

Then, Kitsu stopped shooting, put the guns back inside the left and right parts of his Alice Belt, and started to run at the right track again.

Permy then sniffed into the air, and said with relieve, "The exit's only 50 meters ahead, guys !"

Kitsu and Natsume looked at each other, and threw a knowing look. They immediately increase their pace, and ran ahead of the girls so they could create a safe opening.

Suddenly, a few Fukutai showed up from the side corridor, and tried to stop them from going any further. Natsume immediately threw a few round kicks at them, while Kitsu easily flew above them to kick them behind their backs.

Unexpectedly, the Fukutai Leader yelled, "That's it, kids, play time's over." He stopped running, and lifted his hands with his palms facing them.

Yura immediately screamed, "Arrows ! Brace yourselves !"

Kitsu, Yura, and Natsume immediately ducked, but Permy, who has non-activated her Cat-Dog Alice, froze in her place and just stood with surprised look, making the Fukutai Leader smiled evilly, and shot out arrows at her from his bare palm with his Arrow Alice.

"Shit!" Natsume cursed, and he immediately stood up, making a wall of fire to protect them with his Fire Alice.

The Fukutai Leader smirked and said, "Too late, boy."

The leader stared at the wall of fire that blocked his way, and turned around, for there is no way he can pass through the fire now, "I'll let you get away this time, kids."

As the flaming fire crackled louder, Permy looked at Natsume with a blank expression, "T-thanks a lot, Natsume."

Natsume looked at her, and said, "No problem." Suddenly, he winced in pain, seated himself on the floor, and stared at his chest with a narrow look, "Damn."

Yura and Kistu immediately stood up from their ducking position and looked at him.

"Man, that doesn't look good." Kitsu threw a disturbed look, and glanced at Yura, who's examining Natsume's wound. Permy immediately stepped closer so she can see Natsume from the front side, and her face immediately turned white.

"Oh my God, I'm so…sorry, if only I had seen-" Permy looked at the sharp arrow that stabbed her comrade's chest with guilt and regret.

"Save that for later, Permy. Luckily, the arrow didn't hit any vital part, but I guess he'll have a broken rib, it pierced his bones a bit. Now, Kitsu, take the arrow out. I know, don't give me that look, but it's better if we take it out now. Permy, could you give him your Healing Alice Stone?" Yura said quickly, commanding her partners.

Kitsu stared at the arrows with a smudge look, while Natsume winced in pain and said, "Come on, just do it, I can barely move, darn it."

Permy took her Healing Alice Stone out of her Alice Belt, and put it inside Natsume's grip. "You better hold it, Hyuuga. It would be less hurt later."

Kitsu glanced at Natsume and said, "Hold on, man, it's gonna be rough."

Then, he pulled the arrow out of Natsume's chest, ignoring Natsume's groan of pain.

Yura looked at the wound again that was covered in sticky blood and nasty flesh, and took out a small bottle with a broken white colored ointment inside from her Alice Belt, which has the word 'Wound' printed on the bottle.

She poured out the sticky semi-liquid carefully on top of his wound, made sure that the amount is just right, and said, "You're lucky I bring it with me. That should do it."

Natsume felt the sting of coldness and winced, "It's not as hurt as before anymore, I guess."

He gripped the Alice Stone tighter, as it started to glow a dim light, signaling that it's healing his body.

Kitsu whistled and replied, "Great! So, why don't you two girls go out and take our _ride_ first, I'm going to help our wounded guy here to walk to the exit."

The girls nodded their head and ran towards the exit, while Natsume glared at Kitsu.

"What? You can _not_ walk by yourself in that condition." Kitsu lifted his shoulders, and started to help Natsume stand up.

As all four of them get into the Alice Car, they immediately drove away, straight to the Alice Academy, looking like normal teenagers on their way home from the school.

[ #3. Alice Car : A highly modified car that can be transformed into countless transportation (cars, motorcycles, mini airplanes, etc.) depending on the level it was modified, and has many types. The original Alice Car (the top level of modified) can shift wider, longer, or taller in size depending on how you want to change it (on the settings), transform into many types of cars from the fanciest until the most simple ones, add numerous of seats (maximum to 10 seats), change colors, pull out weapons, and many others. ]

* * *

After she bought some food for her first break in 09.30 a.m. ; a chocolate pudding with vanilla sauce, Mikan looked around for an empty spot at the cafeteria, and immediately walked quickly when she found one. This place had always been full during break times, and extremely crowded too, although there would be a second break during lunch which would be _way_ more crowded than now. The school's cafeteria was not too big, but they prepared various kinds of food from appetizer to dessert in many stalls with reasonable prizes, and they tasted pretty good too.

Not long after that, Mikan waved her hand at the two girls who just stepped inside the food center and shot a big grin. Finally, her friends had came. Being alone for a while made her feel kind of uncomfortable after all. The two girls returned her wave and grinned as well.

"Mikan ! Why the heck are you alone? Where's Permy ? Wait… did she skip school, _again_ ?!" the one with shoulder length flaming orange hair, and a pair of sapphire eyes with soft yellow framed glasses exclaimed quickly before she plopped herself beside Mikan.

The second girl next to her rolled her eyes and said, "Seriously, Stella ? What else could it be? It happens all the time, right?" She sat in front of them and started to open her lunch box. Unlike Stella who has never ending bursting energy, Raina, who had shoulder length black hair tied in a ponytail –as the school insisted the students to tie their long hair– and deep black eyes were just calm and steady, although she can turn her personality 180 degree with her best friends around her.

Mikan just laughed and said, "Of course she ditched school. It's Permy after all."

The three of them smiled, knowing clearly the habit of their other friend. And surprisingly, their super strict school never mind about Permy's continuous absents.

"Pft. Figures." Raina continued while Stella said, "Okay, let's change the topic for a while. The big question is… Mikan, are you going tonight ?"

Mikan rolled her eyes and said, "Do I even have any excuse not to come? Mom's going to kill me if I don't."

Stella threw a knowing look at Raina who said, "Wakako is a High Society member too?"

The High Society nickname was pretty famous even among teenagers, since many of teens about their age were the heir or the sons and daughters of the owner of big companies or famous people. Actually, there were only a few students in their school who were the members of the High Society, nonetheless among them were the Nakigawa siblings.

"Yup." Mikan said while plopped the 'p' and continued eating her beloved chocolate pudding. Chocolate is one of the best food in her world after all.

Stella nodded and said cheerfully, "Shouldn't it be great ? It's gonna be a _big_ celebration ! I mean, I know it's gonna be heck of a crowd since she invited the whole high school, but it's exciting !"

Raina nodded her head and said, "It's not very often for us to come to a party that those High Society people make, right? Well, except for you, Mikan." She winked at Mikan who groaned unwillingly, "You know how I hate those kind of parties right? I'm not a person who can easily blend in like Aya."

Stella laughed and said, "Then try to hook up with one of the guys there, it would be fantastic."

Raina laughed as well while Mikan just frowned, completely disagreeing their joke. One thing she knew about the people of the High Society is that they are not the people she wished to make friends with, since most of them were snobby and spoiled. Although, Aya managed to become their best friends fast.

Raina said with a smirk, "Imagine what will our principal say if she heard this."

Mikan chuckled and added, "Stella, if you're desperate in finding guys, don't worry, the Tavent is next week right?"

The Tavent is the time when TAG High will cooperate with it's neighboring school, the TAB High (Tokyo All Boys High School) to make events such as a field trip or camping together, in order to maintain the good relationship between both schools and their students.

Stella grumbled and said, "Come on…I'm just kidding! And I know that _all_ of the people here are dying for the Tavent to come sooner. Don't you lie to me."

They all laughed, and Mikan finally said, "Okay, back to the topic again, you both are coming tonight, right?"

Raina looked at Stella from the corner of her eyes, and they both smirked.

Mikan widen her eyes and said, "Seriously ? You're going to leave me there _alone_?"

Raina sighed and said, "Well, we both will be going, but maybe only for an hour and a half. The party starts at 06.30, right?"

Mikan formed an 'O' shape on her mouth, "Right…you guys have to be back before 9.."

"Yup, thanks to our parents who have the same ideology. But don't worry, Permy will accompany you til' midnight." replied Raina.

Mikan sighed and said, "I hope Permy will _definitely_ come."

"Of course she is, you know she _never_ skip parties, no matter what." said Stella.

Mikan grinned at her statement, while Raina said, "Alright then. Now, about the present, Stella and me actually bought a Gucci bag for her, well, I don't care about the trend, _but_, it was on sale ! Haha, so I immediately bought it. Since there are four of us who's going to give it to her, so each person will probably pay about 2000 Yen, okay?"

Mikan nodded her head quickly. It is not a surprise if any of them suddenly already bought presents for their friends since all of them always share their money to buy presents anyway. None of them also ever doubt each other's taste in shopping. "Okay. I'll pay you…tomorrow?" Mikan tilted her head.

"Tomorrow's Saturday, idiot, no school, hurray!" Stella said while laughing while Mikan looked embarrassed, "Heyy..I meant Monday, then."

"Deal. I'll tell Permy later." Raina finally said before the school bell rung, indicating that the break's over.

"See you guys later !" Mikan said while she walked at the direction of her class, while Stella and Raina walked to their own class, "See you !"

* * *

She rolled on her bed again, still with the wireless phone on her right hand, waiting for the response of the person on the other side.

The school's over at 02.00 p.m., and she went home straight ahead by herself, since Aya, being the active and popular girl as always, has a lot of things to do after school.

Unfortunately, there's no one to welcome her back in the house. Tanaka, who although takes care of the house, also works as a cook assistant at a nearby Chinese food restaurant, the HotPot Sizzle, for all day long, and returns to the house before dinner. She goes in the morning right after the house's empty ; Mikan and Aya go to school, Sasuko Nakigawa as the head of the family goes to work in the Nakigawa Company, meanwhile Matsuki Nakigawa has plenty and plenty of _money_ to spend all day long at the Prada's or Louis Vuitton's with her friends now.

"So? Pleasee, tell me you're coming…" Mikan said desperately.

Permy laughed in the other line, and Mikan just sighed, frustrated.

"Okay, okay. Of course I will come! You already know I _always _come to parties, _and _I wouldn't let you be a lonely princess there." she said with a chuckle.

Mikan smiled widely, "Great ! Wait..Who's the princess again?"

"Why, you of course ! But lonely as ever."

"Heyy, that's just cruel. You know I'm not good at socializing with _strangers._"

"Fine, fine. Whatever you say, girl. But see the good points. Many guys like to _stare_ at you, it's a prove that you _do_look beautiful."

_Or maybe it's a prove that I look really weird, _Mikan rolled her eyes silently.

"Wait til' they see me in the school's attire. The chicken turns into the ugly duckling again." Mikan said with sarcasm, while Permy just laughed on the other hand.

"Come on, don't compare yourself with chicken, but with swans! With swans, darling! Oh, wait, what are you going to wear? I'm so confused here, since it's made by the High Society after all….she holds the party in a club right?" Permy quickly changed their topic.

"Yup, I'll just go with a simple short dress, I guess, I don't really care." Replied Mikan in a bored tone. She doesn't like to dress up carefully when attending an occasion held by her un-close friends.

"Oh ! Make sure you wear something _sexy_, I really gotta introduce you to a few boys from my…uhh…course, who also got invited." Said Permy in a girly tone, making Mikan imagined her wink just now.

"God, Permy, that's creepy, and I'm not that desperate to-" she said, but Permy cut her words, "No, no, you missed the point. What I meant was, we're in high school now, and you don't have any un-female friends, or should I say, boys as friends! Not even one!"

Mikan shrugged and said, "School's fault. For making it an all girls school."

It is true in her case, though. Many of other girls literally _race_ to have boyfriends, while she doesn't want to 'look' for one as if they are objects. Besides, she's definitely not good at socializing with new people, especially boys.

Permy groaned and said, "Yeah, blame it on the school. But come on, you gotta be more socializing with us, the humble commoners, and leave your mighty-"

Before she finished her starting to be poetic words, Mikan chuckled and said, "Okay okay, I get it Permy, whatever you say."

"Haha, I know you can't resist my charm." Replied Permy in a proud tone.

Mikan rolled her eyes again and thought for a while, "Tonight's gonna be tough, though. I just hope nothing will turn out bad, since a lot, and I meant was _a lot_ of people will come."

"No it won't. Relax.. get ready to go in a crazy _fiesta_, girl !" said Permy playfully.

Mikan smiled at the statement and looked at the clock.

03.00 p.m.

"Well, that's it Permy, I gotta take a nap before the party, since I know I _might _be home by morning." she said lazily.

"Agreed, see you there Mikan ! You'll come on time? 06.30 ?" asked Permy.

"I guess yes. Mom would _love_ to make us go on time." replied Mikan. _Much to her dismay, though._

"Great! See you there !" Permy said in the end.

"Yeah, see you. Bye !"Mikan said, and they both hung the phone.

She put the wireless phone on her side-bed table, as she slowly stood up and took her cell phone from her bag. She set an alarm for 04.00 p.m. so she would have time to prepare herself for the party, then turned off all the lights, closed the curtains, and immediately reached her pillows and pulled her blanket.

Maybe she is a total lazy sleepy head, but she doesn't care. She really needs a sleep to survive tonight.

* * *

"Don't forget to tell the rest of Usami family members that I said 'Hi' okay?" Matsuki Nakigawa said to Aya in a delighted tone.

"Sure, mother." Aya replied and smiled.

Standing next to Aya is Mikan, who tried to hold her yawn. In the end, one hour of sleep was not enough after all.

"Well, off you go. You sure don't want to be late. And oh, Aya darling, you look really beautiful tonight." Matsuki said again to her beloved daughter.

Then, she looked at her other daughter, and stiffly said, "You can go now too."

Mikan just nodded and said, "Bye mom."

With that, without any other delay, the both of them stepped into their black Jaguar, while Noru, their chauffeur, drove in the front of the car.

* * *

He glanced at the 3 storey fancy building in front of him, and sighed deeply.

This is it.

The big flashy 'Colpaenix Club' sign proved that he's at the right place.

Although the club's surrounded by other flashy clubs, pubs, and even expensive love hotels, it actually stands out tonight for the newly put decorations are quite extravagant ; flashy colorful lights and loud music that got the attention of the people in the street.

The rather old building is painted in black shades, light gray, cream, and white paint, with a few humungous artistic pillars in the front. It captures the modern Greek temple style at first glance, and really artistic actually. The building's really huge, like a manor, surrounded by trees, and even has a front yard that gives a gap between the building and the street.

In the front door, there's a big banner that said, 'Wakako Usami's Sweet 16th Fabulous Night`.

Natsume frowned at the gaudy writing and hesitated to start driving. He barely even know this Usami girl, and yet he has to come to her oh so called party.

A few big and tall security men guard the big entrance door, as they check the people who lined up to get in for safety reason. It seems that for tonight, _anyone_ can come in with no fee even if they're uninvited –the expenses are all on Usami family– if they don't bring harmful objects of course.

Natsume sighed at the sight, since he is not in the mood to meet people tonight, especially after the incident that happened this morning still makes his body unable to freely move, but he wouldn't tell his parents about this of course.

Wait, maybe, he could just lie to his old man and pretend that he attended the party. That would be great, actually. Should he ?

As if on cue, his phone vibrates and he took a glance at the short message.

_From : Mom_

_Your father just said that he will sell your precious car if he gets the news that you don't go to the Usamis' daughter's party. I just thought that you might want to know. Oh, one more thing, if you go home drunk or bring some cheap girls home, I will personally burn your car and make you watch me do it. Got that? Love you, dear. Play it safe._

_Back / Reply_

Shit, he can imagine his mom's smirking at the moment. No way he's gonna let his black Mercedes Benz C250 Sport that he just got at his last sixteenth birthday disappear in a blink of an eye. Although he's still illegal to drive a car, thanks to the special permission made by Alice Academy, the driving license is all his to own. Now, if he loses the car, he knows that a certain person from the Alice Academy will search him until the edge of the world to make him pay back the 'service' his car had.

He looked at the building again and glanced at the clock on the dashboard.

07.45 p.m.

Well, he doesn't have another choice, does he?

A few seconds later, Natsume immediately drove his car into the basement of the club. He doesn't trust valet services thus he didn't use them to park his car. He wanted to finish this soon, and the sooner he get in, the sooner he'll go out_._

Or so he thought.

* * *

I can't believe I've finally update this :")

After the hiatus for a few months, I've finally decided to post this revised chapter, as I tried to make a better story line and character this time.

Truly sorry for the delay, I hope the outcome is worth it, and please tell me your opinion on this chapter :)

A million of thanks to those who reviewed and tagged as favorite the previous chapter(s) :

review : **RachelLuv**, **spica14**, **Hime Nadeshiko**, **lolliepop**

favorite : **ArchAngelAlice**,**Fantasychick13**,**Hime Nadeshiko**,**Lacie Sakura**,**Lover's Red Rose**,**Satomi-chi**,**girltiger1011**,**mikan1912**

Thank you for spending your time reading this chapter, and sorry for the grammatical errors XD


	3. Last Friday Night

**~ It's Magic, It's Alice, It's Real ~**

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

* * *

Mikan never thought that her life will change forever because of one word : Alice. From the girl with family conflicts, school issues, she encounters reality, revealed secrets, love, and danger. Imagination coming true, and becoming superheroes? Might be.

* * *

"If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail."

- Heraclitus -

* * *

CHAPTER II

**`Friday, September 23rd 2012`**

"Where are you, again?"

Mikan looked at her left and right again for the fifth time in 10 minutes and finally let out a sigh. The cell phone that she gripped beside her ear was getting warmer, and she began to feel uncomfortable with the heat.

She was late, actually, due to the small car accident that occurred near her house, which unfortunately blocked more than half of the street and causing a small traffic. But since she didn't care being on time after all, she was fine with it.

"Okay, okay, I'll meet you at the bar. I'm going to search for Wakako _alone_ then." She unwillingly said to the person on the other line and struggled to find her way out of the dance floor.

This crowded club was starting to drive her crazy.

"No, I haven't seen Permy. But she said that she's here already. We'll meet up later, okay? Deal. Bye Raina." Mikan said at the end of the conversation, immediately flipped her phone and put it in her small white purse.

She looked at the crowd in front of her, took a deep breath, and started her work in finding Wakako Usami, the reason she came here in the first place, "Excuse me…Sorry, excuse me."

Mikan started to make her way through the sea of humans, and finally reached the sideline of the dance floor. It was not a surprise to find this _much_ of a crowd on Friday night, since the Colpaenix Club was very famous around teenagers, unlike usual clubs which are usually dominated by adults.

The place is nice and big to hang out with, but they don't serve too many liquors. The special thing about this club was that they easily accept fake ID's, which attracted underage customers. Adults dislike the 'childish' atmosphere, which makes the place even more demanded by youngsters.

When talking about the structure, 'Colpaenix Club' actually has 3 level floors. The first floor is the main floor, with a huge square shaped dance floor in the middle, giant disco light hanging on above, and not to forget the blinding colorful lights that keep on spinning and shining for the whole time. A bar was placed behind the dance floor, and a DJ located on a small stage behind the bar. Many cushions and sofas with white colors were all around the floor, surrounding the dance floor. Not forget to mention, the small black tables beside the sofas to put the food and drinks on.

The second floor, which the floor is made from transparent glass, looked more like a balcony. This floor is actually circling the first floor from above ; it had a big hole shaped bigger than the dance floor in the middle of the floor, so people from the second storey can both observe and enjoy the party downstairs.

The last floor, was the floor for VIP rooms, which had cushions, tables, and TV inside, with light music and futuristic architecture. Customers, who usually were adults, could book the room beforehand, and able to order liquor and food inside.

Shortly, the club was quite a fancy place to celebrate Wakako Usami's birthday, especially for those underage teens who can enjoy the free flow alcoholic beverage.

Mikan looked at her surroundings again, and finally took a glimpse of Wakako, who was standing next to the stairs. She quickly made her way to the girl who was wearing a mid thigh backless silver glittery tube dress and matching 7-inch silver stilettos. Her short hair was extended and curled perfectly until it reached her back. Her thick makeup and glistening silver jewelries also made her appearance totally stood out tonight.

Mikan slowly approached the girl who seemed to barely notice her presence. At first, she planned to wait until the girl finished her conversation with a guy whose back facing her sight, but after a few minutes passed, Mikan grew impatient and decided to jump in by herself.

"Um..excuse me.." she slowly said, and the two people immediately looked at her.

Mikan looked at Wakako's surprised face and gave her a small smile, "Happy birthday Wakako! Nice party you have here."

Wakako smiled wider and said, "Thank you so much for coming, Mikan! Really glad you could make it, where's your sister? I haven't seen her came."

Mikan just threw a forced smile again and replied, "Oh, you'll meet her soon. She came here with me after all."

She bet that the moment her sister stepped inside the club, she immediately went to the bathroom to fix her oh-so-perfect makeup and hairdo from the expensive beauty parlor. Unlike herself, who did nothing except brushing her thick and wavy tangled hair, and applied small amount of compact powder on her face.

"That's brilliant. Hope you'll enjoy yourself tonight. Oh, and please be nice to the paparazzi and say hello to the camera, okay? I invited them on purpose of course." Wakako winked at her while Mikan let out a suppressed laugh. "And by the way Mikan, you look _completely_ different without your glasses. In a good way, that is."

The statement made her remember that she was actually wearing contact lenses..by _force_. According to person she calls 'mother' for these past years, in order to maintain a good family name, the daughters have to look _proper _in any occasions. And by proper means look pretty.

Mikan still remembered how her mom easily said that she _has_ to wear contact lenses instead of glasses on social gatherings, or she can't go out of the house for the rest of her life. Her parents would deny having a daughter who looked like a dork, and according to them, the contact lenses actually will help her look more appropriate, although they said that she could never compete her looks with Aya, who looked absolutely beautiful in anything.

Mikan slowly focused on the girl in front of her, and smiled weakly, "Really? And you look gorgeous tonight, Wakako." She complemented right back at her, earning a proud grin from the owner.

"Okay, see you later." said Mikan in the end, while thinking about Wakako's compliment over again. Maybe she _does_ look different tonight. And on occasions like these, were what her sister loved to nickname her ; a fake Cinderella ; when you look a little bit prettier in one night while you are actually not that pretty in real life. Once, she was mocked by her sister too, saying that she deceived many guys into thinking that she is _more_ beautiful than reality, while Mikan actually inwardly accused her sister the same too, with her so not pretty attitude.

Mikan sighed at the memory, and finally took her leave. She took a short glance at the person next to her who was supposed to still be talking to Wakako before her interruption. At first, she planned to gave him a small bow as a polite gesture because of her sudden interruption, but in the end, she chose to blink for a few seconds when she saw him. This person was actually staring intensely at her, but that was not the reason she _almost_ gaped. This person…was really, _really, _handsome, like the dream guy any girls would want. If she could sum up her opinion at first glance, she would describe him as a good looking guy with bad boy attitude, who has plenty of girls lingering around him wherever he goes.

The teenage boy was wearing a simple black collared shirt with a few buttons undone, a pair of dark black jeans, and worn out reddish-black Nike shoes. He has a tall posture, probably a head higher than her with her heels on. His messy raven hair fits his slightly tanned skin perfectly, as he put his hands inside his pocket. She would guess that his age might be older than her by a year or two. Mikan found him exceptionally mysterious, yet familiar. He somehow attracts her attention a lot, as if there was a secret in him that she must find.

The boy was looking at her with a pair of deep crimson eyes that made her swore he must be wearing eye contacts. Mikan just nervously took a small breath and looked in other direction since her face felt warmer because of her unconscious blush.

She was never used to observe boys this closely, since she rarely sees them after all because of her all girls school. This is the first time for her, actually, which is why she felt really awkward when their eyes met.

Slowly, she started to walk away, inwardly cursing herself for blushing just after seeing a mere good looking boy. But after a few steps, she curiously looked back again, only to find the guy's piercing eyes kept on staring at her, but with a very dark look.

Mikan felt a chill ran down her spines. Even such a handsome guy can look _that_ scary. His eyes were cold, as if accusing her for a mistake. Maybe it was not polite to interrupt people's conversation after all, but, she tried to ignore that feeling and shook her head, starting to get focused on going to the bar to meet her friends.

* * *

"Hey, Natsume ! Done talkin' to the birthday girl already?"

Natsume glared at Kitsu who grinned innocently while saying, "What? I'm only asking. Since I managed to sneak here uninvited after all."

"Shut up, Kitsu. You're not making it any better. Can't you see that he's ready to eat you alive?" said Permy, who just finished talking on the phone with her friend.

Kitsu smirked and replied, "I know, I know… And I _also_ know how you miss Koko who's on the Mission, sooo badly-"

Permy nudged Kitsu's shoulders hardly and hissed, "_Now_ you're getting _really_ annoying, twerp."

Natsume rolled his eyes at his friends' behavior, before his Alice Phone suddenly rang a familiar tune.

[ #4. Alice Phone : A highly modified iPhone. It can be used as a normal phone (to call, send messages, games, Wi-fi, internet, etc.) but also can be connected to the satellite with endless connection around the world (in high speed, of course). It has a high security system, especially when going to use special applications such as performing high quality holograms to view pictures, videos, and face to face communication. It also has the ability to copy, censor or detect anything. It can only be charged with an Alice Charger, and can also be used for a conference in any kind of form (messages, calls, or videos). After being charged for 6 hours, the phone can last for a whole week no matter how often it is used. ]

"Ruka. Don't tell me you're still on your way here." He stated quickly.

Ruka chuckled on the other line and said, "Well, I just picked Imai up, and the traffic's really bad, man."

"Blackmailed again, aren't we?" Natsume snorted, while Ruka just murmured in return.

"Whatever you said, Nat. I actually called because I just heard that you're wounded on today's mission." Ruka said carefully.

Natsume chuckled and replied playfully, "No big deal. You just go take _good _care of the Ice Queen instead."

"H-hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Ruka replied nervously, while Natsume laughed. His friend must be blushing now and Imai would be curious.

"Later, Nogi." Natsume said shortly before ending up the line.

Permy and Kitsu were still arguing and he just couldn't believe that they were already sixteen. _Now_ they're debating whether the color green or yellow is better, which gave him even more headache.

Natsume sighed, as his eyes traveled to the dance floor, where many people are dancing to one of David Guetta's song. He was not in the mood for crowd after all, so he just stood there with a bored look, when suddenly a flash of image appeared in his head, making him frowned. He was unexpectedly remembering the girl who cut his boring conversation with Wakako. The brunette was pretty, as in naturally pretty, with honest smiles lingering and wide honey-brown eyes. She also wears a simple dark blue one-shoulder dress that ended underneath her mid-thigh, with about 3 inches black heels. Pretty simple, he might say, as it was shown in her plain face as well.

Though, he bet that brunette was unfortunately just another typical fan girl who tried to attract his attention as usual. Using tricks like cutting conversations, or bump at him on purpose, had been too common for him. This is one of the reasons why he hate parties. Many girls would drool at him, literally, and swoon over him for the rest of the night. That's why he just gave her a cold glare, hoping that she would not bother him with any uncanny attitude that night.

"Hey guys, I'm going to see my friends, okay? See you guys later." Permy suddenly bid them a quick goodbye, then without waiting for any reply, immediately went inside the crowded dance floor.

Both of the guys just stared at her disappearing form and wondered why she was in a hurry.

"Alright then, I'm going to find some drinks. You coming, Nat?" Kistu grinned, as if he knew what his friend would reply. Just like his prediction, Natsume shook his head.

"Nah, you just go." replied Natsume lazily, and Kitsu quickly disappeared into the crowded dance floor as well, "See ya' later too!"

The young lad sighed and searched for an empty cushion to sit instead. Somehow, he got a feeling that his wound's not healing as fast as he thought. His eyes lingered around the crowded space, but his mind wandered off somewhere he didn't even know. Unknown to him, some girls were already talking about his look, and wished to have the guts to approach him. What those girls sadly did not know, is that Natsume Hyuuga never easily got interested in girls.

* * *

"So sorry, girls, but our curfews just suck." Stella said with regret. Oh how she absolutely hate the night hours that her parents forced.

Raina nodded and added, "Yeah, I didn't feel like partying at all. It's still 08.45!"

"Come on girls, that's fine..We can go to parties some other times, right Mikan?" Permy winked while Mikan bulged her eyes, "Hey, why did you ask _me_?"

Permy sighed, "You're not really helpful, you know, at cheering them up."

Raina just shook her head and Stella laughed at their friends' behavior.

"See you guys on Monday !" Mikan waved them goodbye as Stella and Raina proceed to the exit door.

Suddenly, the music stopped, and an easy familiar song was heard throughout the club, making the people cheered and crowded the dance floor even more.

"Let's find some drinks after this song ends." Permy yelled at Mikan, who barely heard what her friend said, as the music was getting louder and louder.

Mikan smiled on the decision, and replied, "Sure! I love this song. Besides, it really matched, isn't it? Today is Friday after all!"

Her friend laughed and nodded in agreement, as they continued moving their bodies with enjoyment to the rhythm of the music.

* * *

_Last Friday night_

_Yeah I think we broke the law_

_Always say we're gonna stop_

_Oh-whoa-oh_

_This Friday night_

_Do it all again_

_(_Last Friday Night by Katy Perry_)_

* * *

"Are you _sure_ they are here?" A man in his middle 30 asked sternly. He would not make any more mistake. Not after what had happened before.

"Positive. I saw all of them already through the security cameras." One of his underlings said with respect.

"Good. We'll see your team at the basement. And remember, give me the position of the girl. She's the easiest to handle." The man put on a small earpiece on his right ear.

"But sir, don't you think it would be great if we capture the Black Cat instead?" The underling seemed not to agree with choosing easy tasks. After all, he was just promoted to be the second in command after this man.

The man snorted at his junior's arrogant remark, and spitted his words, "Never, _ever,_ hoped for capturing the Black Cat with your level of experience."

The younger man just frowned, but didn't reply at his senior. He joined this organization for three _years _already, and he was told to be unable to capture a mere teenage boy? _That,_ is just ridiculous.

* * *

Kitsu easily blended in with everyone else.

He had always loved the crowd, and his dancing skills were not half bad. So why not accepting the offer to join a snob girl's party for free?

He was just dancing to the rhythm of the music with everyone else, when suddenly a few adults tried to make way through the dance floor. Now that's rare to see in Colpaenix Club. This club was mostly full of teenagers, and those men didn't look like they're going to dance anytime soon.

Although Kitsu hesitated to find out what those men were up to, he finally decided to follow them as he slowly danced through the crowd to not raise any suspicion. Somehow, one of those men looked awfully familiar, which made him really worried.

He took out his phone, just in case something happen, so he could call his friends immediately. Hopefully, his bad feeling wouldn't came to reality. All of the fuss they had made that morning already took most of his day away after all.

* * *

"Okay, I feel kind of lame, but I _am _tired." Mikan laughed at her own statement while walking out of the dance floor.

"Actually, me too! Let's find a seat." smiled Permy, whose eyes lingered around for empty cushions. Finally, she could have a proper rest after this.

Her eyes suddenly stopped moving when she saw a few people clad in black, who were looking at her in surprise as well. Her jade irises filled with shock, as she gasped and immediately turned around, only to find Mikan looking at her with curious eyes. Nothing could've been worse for her in any minute.

"What's wrong, Permy? You looked like you just saw a ghost." asked Mikan, and she looked at the people in black collared shirts and black pants, who were walking at their direction.

"I hope I did." Permy's face became paler as she averted her gaze to many directions, searching for the exit sign.

"Are they your friends? But why do they look so serious and-" Mikan stopped her words in a sudden as Permy took her right hand harshly and dragged her to run across the dance floor.

"Run, Mikan! Don't ever stop!" Permy yelled at the petrified Mikan while harshly making their way out of the crowd.

"Wh-what's happening? A-are we running from them? Wh-what do they want with _you_?!" asked Mikan desperately between her run, but she didn't receive any reply.

She looked back for a bit, and realized that those people were increasing their pace as well. Her heart started to beat faster, and she felt really uncomfortable, like when she knew that she is _not_ going to be alright.

Permy was cursing all the way, and started to dial her phone as quick as she could. Mikan just followed after her, while kept on looking back, in case those people were near already.

Surprisingly for Permy, the other person on the line immediately answered after the first beep of her call.

"Kitsu, they're here! Please help, and fast!" Permy yelled on her phone, and continued with a grim look, "How do you know? Y-yes…I _am_ with a friend.."

Mikan just squinted her eyes at that statement. What in the world could possibly happen between Permy and that group of guys, until she was this troubled with her presence? Maybe debt? And who is this 'Kitsu' that she's talking to?

Suddenly, Permy saw a door nearby, and said on the phone again, "I'm going to the basement. Meet you there! Tell _him _too!"

She stopped the call, and put it inside her pocket dress. Mikan just realized that Permy's black A line dress actually has two invisible pockets on both left and right sides. She inwardly cursed that she actually left her purse on one of the tables, but she didn't actually care much about it.

Permy made a sharp turn and entered a door that led to the basements' stairs. After that, she immediately took off both of her heels, and told Mikan to do so.

"Trust me. And I'll explain to you later. Please?" Permy pleaded in a hurrying tone, and Mikan gave her a firm nod after taking off her heels, "I trust you. Let's go, then."

They both started to run down the stairs while carrying their heels, just in time when the guys who chased them slammed the door open. Mikan yelled in surprise, and threw one of her heels at one of those people in reflex, right on the head.

She gasped and started to run even faster, as that guy, which seemed to be very furious, started to curse her and chase after them.

Permy unexpectedly smirked and said, "Never thought you have the talent, Mikan."

Mikan widen her eyes and said, "Panic takes over, okay? Now come on! I'm starting to get _really_ scared now. And you owe me one heck of explanation."

* * *

He looked at the time, and finally decided to have a drink. He had been spacing out for too long.

A few moments before, a few girls tried to talk to him, by directly asking his name, his school, etcetera ; the usual introduction thing. But, he just merely replied with a cold 'Sorry, I'm not interested' which made those girls embarrassed and walked away.

Suddenly, his phone rang a warning alarm tune, unlike the previous familiar tunes that he received, and his phone also flashed a small red color on the screen , which could only mean one bad thing. An Alice Call_._

[ #4.1. Alice Call : A call using the Alice Phone which uses the Alice Number as the dialed number. It's usually used to inform new Missions or to communicate with the other members when there are emergencies or important news about Alice Academy. ]

[ #4.2. Alice Number : A secret phone number that only each members of Alice Academy has. It can only be used when using the Alice Phone. ]

Natsume immediately checked his phone, and saw Kitsu's name on the screen. He frowned at the dialer's name, doubting if the call was just a joke, or something _bad_ is actually happening.

He answered the phone, and heard a panicked voice of Kitsu, "Where the heck are you, man?! The AAO's are _here_ and they spotted Permy, that arrow guy is here too!"

Natsume immediately stood up, and cursed when the pain of his wound throbbed unexpectedly. Though, he ignored it briefly and said quickly through the phone, "Where are you? And where's Permy?"

"Those guys are following them to the basement. Let's meet at the basement's entrance." answered Kitsu in a hurry.

He swiftly started to run towards the basement's entrance which is located outside, ignoring his throbbing chest, before he finally realized a thing.

"What do you mean by those guys are following 'them' and not just Permy?" Natsume started to have a bad assumption of Kitsu's word, although he hoped his guess was wrong

Kitsu didn't reply for the next three seconds, before finally saying, "She's with a friend. A Commoner."

Natsume's eyes widen in shock as he replied, "Shit."

* * *

They finally reached the basement, which is the parking lot, when they realized that there were nobody else inside the basement except for the both of them. Harsh yelling and cursing were heard from the entrance of the basement. And lots of them too.

"Shit, we're surrounded." Permy's eyes flickered in anger, while receiving a curious 'How do you know' look from Mikan, but immediately gestured her to hide behind a concrete pillar while she would hide behind the pillar next to it. They threw their heels at a far direction from them, so they would not be troubled by them.

Mikan let a small sigh, while her mind travels far from her current situation.

She couldn't believe she ended up spending the night hiding behind a pillar because they were chased by some weird people dressed in black. Her back faced the cold concrete pillars, as she tried to prevent her body from trembling due to all the running.

"Why are they chasing you?" Mikan asked with curious eyes.

Permy replied, "They are bad guys. And I stole something from them."

Mikan just knead her eyebrows together, adding wrinkles to her forehead, "Then just give it back. I mean, what are they going to _do_ to us if they find us?"

Permy shook her head and said, "I can't give it back. And I don't have it now, either." She paused for a while, before she _sniffed_ into the air, making Mikan confused, but Permy said in a fast tune after that, "No matter what happens, Mikan, stay here and don't move. They might want to kill you _too_."

She never thought that Permy would give her a blunt reply, but her last words made her shivered. Those guys would try to kill the both of them. And with a poor reason to do so too.

Suddenly, the men clad in black clothing appeared from the stairs and locked the door connected to it. Mikan widen her eyes, and couldn't accept the fact that they actually had the key, while Permy seemed to already predicted that to happen.

A few other guys from the basement's main entrance finally showed up after locking the big soundproof iron door that shaped like a thin block, which managed to close the entrance of the basement completely, making no people from the outside could come and see what's happening inside.

"We've put the sign that the parking lot is full, sir." said one of the men, breaking the silence there. "And we have bribed the security guards too."

A man, who seemed to have the authority, said, "Good. Let's greet the ladies now, shall we?"

Mikan shivered and just silently prayed that there could be a miracle that somebody realized that something's wrong inside the basement. She took a quick glance behind the pillar to see what's happening, and it seemed that many people, about twenty in number, already gathered there on 5 meters distance across her, although they were not facing her direction. If she was about to run straight from her hiding place, she would immediately bump into the middle of them. What made it worse, was the fact that all of them were carrying big guns, like those that the military uses.

For a second she thought that this might be really unfunny _joke_ for the reality TV shows. After all, these past hour had been like in the movie for her. Being chased by scary looking guys, and now they're carrying guns too. But she knew Permy long enough to know that she's dead serious right now.

Mikan finally looked at Permy and tried to ask for any plan, but before she managed to open her mouth, a gunshot was heard. She could see a cracking hole on the wall where the bullet was fired, and she immediately shivered.

"Come out, now, little girl. Or should I say.._Silvestris_." The same guy who just fired the gun spoke, emphasizing his words clearly.

Permy's ears perked when she heard the name, as she growled slowly in anger. Mikan tilted her head, trying to figure out the meaning of Silvestris for Permy, but she could think of none.

"Wait a second, Takeru." A young man who wore a frameless glasses hesitatingly said, cutting the elder's words, "She….she's with a Commoner right now, you know that."

"Hmm, so what? Her friend would be dead too anyway." replied the man called Takeru.

"But sir, it is against the law to leak any information to a Commoner, more less killing them." said another man, although his tone was careful when he spoke.

"Kakashi, let me tell you what. Screw the rules." Takeru said in humor, before he unexpectedly fired his automatic machine gun to one of the walls repeatedly, creating countless holes on the wall and loud machinery noise in the basement.

Mikan stayed still, although her face became paler than before. Meanwhile, Permy didn't look bothered with the brutality at all. She looked calm even, and seemed to be concentrating on hearing their conversations, while once in a while peeking behind her pillar.

After a few seconds passed, Takeru stopped shooting and snickered, "Come on, little kitty." He said in a swinging tune, like he was trying to approach a real cat, "Why don't we play for a bit? I already prepared a big game for you."

Mikan looked at Permy nervously, but her expression changed from worried to shocked when she saw what her friend looked like.. or how she was _supposed _tolook like.

Mikan immediately put her hands in front of her mouth, to prevent herself from yelling. In front of her sight, was not the Permy who wore a black dress and stood carefully behind the pillar. Right then, stood the Permy who had a pair of cat ears, long whiskers, and even black-brownish tail moving beneath her dress. Her hands and feet turned into dog-like paws, and her nose seemed to look like those of the hounds too. She was no more standing in two feet, but in four feet as she crouched on the ground. Her eyes shaped pointier like a cat and even dimmed a faint emerald glow, as she looked around cautiously and sniffed to the air occasionally.

No matter how her mind tried to think, Mikan immediately thought that she was being delusional._ Her friend just transformed into a freaking cat_. _Or a freaking dog_. Permy looked half human half animal, like a werewolf, but in this case, she looked like a.. _weredogcat_? Is that even a word? Heck, is that even possible?!

Permy pointed her paw in front of her lips, signaling Mikan to be quiet, while Mikan just gaped at her then nodded unsurely. Suddenly, Permy swiftly leaped towards the direction of Takeru, making Mikan widen her eyes.

Her friend could actually reach the person called Takeru with just one single leap. She reached the person who distanced 5 meters with just _one _leap. Maybe anything's possible now. Mikan blinked fast, as she tried to follow what was happening. Permy moved like a blur. She was besides her in one second, then suddenly in front of Takeru on the next, and then disappeared again after she slashed Takeru and his gun with her _claws_.

Mikan gulped at Permy's cat-dog form, but she was not afraid of her. She was amazed. Like the speed of a hunting hound, and the strong claws like those of the mountain cats, Permy gracefully showed how she had the upper hand in this situation.

Mikan, who was actually hiding in coward behind the pillar, felt rather ashamed. Never had she been so useless, but she could do nothing to help either. She kept trying to make herself believe how this was not a dream. That there are more mysterious things happening in her life more than she ever knew.

* * *

It was not the only Mikan who was surprised. The rest of the group of men were very shocked as well when they saw what Permy had done. They, who were just Commoners, never witnessed many Alice power beforehand, so such a skill that the girl shown was really dumbfounding. Not only them, their second captain in command, Kakashi, was also absolutely taken aback. He never thought that Alices would bear _such_ potentials. He often heard such various types of powers, and he just considered them passing wind, but now, his whole perspective of a being called Alice had changed. His confidence was starting to melt.

He barely sees how Alices fight in front of his own eyes, since it was considered a top secret in the organization, even for a loyal hitman like himself. But right now, how come a mere teen, a _girl_ even, managed to wound his captain with just one move? Are Alices actually _much_ greater beyond his expectations?

"Fuck! Look what you have done, little bitch!" Takeru screamed in agony as his hands bleed badly, while his gun was shred in pieces.

Permy hid behind one of the pillars, while hoping that Takeru wouldn't be able to use his hands for a while.

The men clad in black started to look nervous, and a few of them were aiding Takeru.

"Damn it! What are you people standing for? Search for the bitch!" Takeru yelled at his men, who finally started to move around the basement.

The guy with the glasses sighed and said slowly, as if he was bored, "Try to not kill her first, you hear me? We have to find the chip after all. She would be useless if she's dead."

Kakashi looked at him and nodded, as he signaled his men to change the bullets into paralyzing ammo instead. Although this man with glasses was not one of the chief in command, he is one of the superiors in the organization whom he would never disobey.

"What about the other girl? The Commoner?" asked Kakashi.

"Kill her! She _dare _hit me with a _shoe_ as if I'm a rat! Kill them all!" yelled Takeru again. His dark mud like eyes were filled with rage, because his pride was stomped by mere two girls half his age.

"But she's a Commoner, sir." said Kakashi in return, while Takeru suddenly pointed his palm at him and snarled, "You _don't_ want to see my Alice, now, _do_ you? Or maybe you want to experience such a rare view?"

Kakashi gulped in fear, and slowly bowed at him, then proceed in searching the two girls in return. He knew how famous Takeru is for going rampage with his Alice when he got ticked off, and now, he believed that if Takeru was a bomb, he is on the verge of exploding in any second.

* * *

Mikan did not feel safe at all. What can she do if those guys found her? Now they were starting to search the whole basement for her too, and she couldn't hide anymore. Fighting back would be futile, since they have guns and obviously greater in number. Her eyes started to flicker from one side to another, as she hoped that no one would find her.._yet_.

She was no longer too shaken with all of the things that had happened, and she determined to become strong too, like Permy, although she still felt really nervous. She didn't peek behind the pillar again, as she was afraid to get found out. A few drops of sweat was starting to drip down her forehead, and even her hands were getting cold and wet. She took a deep breath, trying to relax the tensed muscles in her body, and trying to calm herself down, when suddenly a man walked at her direction, but unexpectedly didn't see her there. Mikan's eyes widen for a second, as she immediately tried to run behind the cars before the man could see her.

The only thing on her mind was to run as fast as she could from her former spot, and to hide behind the cars for a while. Getting caught by men with weapons is the least thing she would ever want. It was only two steps away before she reached the cars, but the man who walked pass her pillar suddenly turned back when he heard a few footsteps, and saw her trying to get away.

Mikan could feel her heart beats faster when she heard the man yelled loudly to signal his friends about her whereabouts, but before she could manage to look back, her gaze was no longer fixed to the road. She was pushed to the ground with such force, but she immediately scrambled her arms to get up. Unfortunately, the man quickly locked her hands, making her unable to move.

"We got her, Sir!" yelled the man who tackled Mikan, as he seized her hands behind her back.

Mikan was suddenly pulled backward until she half stood up. Her feet were trembling, and she felt really weak, like all of the energy had been drained away from her. She could clearly feel the metal that was pressed on her back, as she silently shivered in fear.

That day was the first time she saw real guns, and now one of those dangerous metallic weapon was pressed on her back. She didn't know what she was supposed to react. Scream? Or pretend that she passed out?

Her eyes went blank, as she was not focused on what was happening. The view of the lining cars in the basement suddenly went hazy, as she felt the world was spinning fast. All she knew was she had to wake up from this nightmare, because in reality, there was no escape anymore.

"Move forward." said the man behind her harshly, making Mikan blinked to reality, as she started to walk slowly, to the direction of the guy called Takeru and the person with glasses. Her hands were already tied with a stiff rope, and when she tried to move her hands, she could feel the harsh fibers, and the rope would leave painful scratches on her wrist instead of loosening her hands. The man who captured her gave these two men a polite bow, then he went back to search for Permy.

The man with glasses was eyeing Mikan and frowned. He seemed unpleased when he saw her there. On the contrary, Takeru's eyes flickered with victory when he saw that she was captured. He immediately shoved the men who was putting white bandage over his arm and stood up. It seemed the cut was not wide, but it was pretty deep, considering the non-stop blood loss.

Mikan looked at him intensely, trying to be brave to face what will happen next.

Takeru raised his eyebrow at her and snickered, "Not so cocky anymore, huh, little girl? For a Commoner, a puny girl even, you are pretty tough I must say. Seeing what had happened must make you extremely scared."

Mikan slowly gulped. She might not look like she was in fear, but she could feel her heart was beating faster and faster.

The guy with glasses suddenly said to Takeru, "Let's get this over with. We've wasted too much time here. She is not our goal."

Mikan looked at him with a curious look. He seemed to be powerful, might be even more powerful than Takeru, but he didn't seem like he was going to waste his energy here.

She glanced at Takeru, who spoke in a loud voice to the empty space of the basement, "We got your friend now, Silvestris. And you better show up soon, or she might get hurt…"

As he finished his word, he suddenly lifted his good hand and slapped Mikan in the face. "..Like this." said Takeru and smirked at his small revenge.

Mikan stumbled, as the impact was so sudden, but she did not fall. Mikan looked at him with hatred, as she felt her cheeks hurt so bad, although she knew that the slap didn't use even a little bit of his energy.

"That's for hitting me with a shoe, girly." hissed Takeru in victory, as he continued, "But you're no fun. I was hoping for a better reaction than that."

Mikan already predicted that he would hit her again when he raised his arm, so she tried to dodge his hand, but she was not fast enough. This time, he slapped her other cheek with a stronger force, making her dropped to the ground. She winced in pain, but she did not let any word slip from her mouth. Takeru squinted his eyes as he started to kick her stomach, but Mikan only winced in return, making him angrier.

"Why don't you say something, lil' girl? I wanna hear you scream." Takeru snarled, as he kicked her again.

Mikan whimpered in pain, as she felt that her stomach was going to explode. She bit her lips as hard as she could to endure the pain, although it was no help at all. She really wished she could hold her stomach, so she could sooth the pain away, but it seemed impossible with her hands tied on the back,. She wanted to fight back, she had to, but she could even barely stand now, especially with Takeru in the perfect range to kick her.

Suddely, a flash of green appeared in front of her, as the figure tried to slash Takeru. Unfortunately, Takeru saw this coming and leaped behind to dodge the attack.

Mikan's eyes widen as Permy was standing in front of her in four legs. Permy looked at Mikan with her eyes widen in guilt.

"Mikan! Are you alright-"Before Permy managed to finish her sentence, suddenly she was thrown a few meters to the back, leaving Mikan screamed her name, but receiving no reply from the girl.

Takeru grinned maliciously after he managed to kick Permy, and said, "Finish her, boys."

With that, the men with guns shot her continuously with paralyzing ammos, but luckily, Permy already got up, and leaped from pillar to pillar to avoid them, and launched a few surprise attacks on them in return. But slowly, it was getting harder as they were using guns while she was using bare hands, or in this case, sharp claws.

Just when Mikan was about to stand up to see her friend, she felt her body was lifted and she was thrown to one of the pillars. Her back immediately stung when she received the impact, and she yelped in pain. She was on the verge of crying because of the shock, but she tried to not show any weakness in front of this man. She coughed badly and looked really helpless, but inside, she felt a little bit grateful that it was not her head that hit the pillar first.

Takeru laughed at Mikan's painful face, for he was finally able to break this girl's cool mask, "Finally, showing some emotion. You are interesting to play with. Maybe I should kill you slowly to kill time."

The guy with glasses looked at Takeru and said, "That's enough. Your mission is not torturing some Commoner, while you haven't even get your hands on the Silvestris."

Mikan tried to stand up with the remaining strength that her body has, but she immediately fell down due to the pain in her stomach. She winced as she tried to get up again, although she fell back down again, creating a small noise for Takeru to realize her attempt and laughed evilly.

"Now don't you think you can go anywhere, girl, cause you're going to-" before Takeru finished his words, suddenly a loud explosion was heard from the iron door, causing thick grayish smoke and shreds of metal surround the air of the basement.

The man who wears glasses looked at the iron door with surprise, and glared at Takeru, "I've told you to be faster! Now this is bad news. I'm getting out of here, I'm not in the mood to fight, and I believe I've told you that. Tell me when you decided to retreat. I knew even this very _simple_ mission will fail because you as the leader has that kind of wasting time attitude."

He made his way to one of the SUV that was parked in the basement, leaving a dumbfounded Takeru. After a few seconds, Takeru realized what just happened and laughed, "Do you think I can't handle them? Now you coward just watch from afar how I will handle these small fries!"

Mikan tried to look what caused the explosion, but the smoke prevented her to see clearly. Though, she was sure that whatever caused the explosion was going to help her and Permy, and she felt a little relieved. A few running footsteps was heard, and two figures finally appeared on the front door. Maybe they are Permy's friends whom she called earlier?

Mikan tried to look at them, but her vision blurred due to the lingering ashes from the impact of the explosion. Her contact lenses even made it worse, because all of the smokes made her eye watery and hurt, so she decided to close her eyes and tried to assure herself that everything will be alright.

* * *

The two young lad didn't know how things were, since they couldn't reach Permy's phone. But they were running as fast as they could to the basement, even though they had to take a few security guards down before they managed to reach the parking lot.

Kitsu looked at the huge iron door-gate, and glanced at his friend.

"Can you do it?"

Natsume rolled his eyes and replied, "Piece of cake."

Then, in a blink of any eye, the big iron wall exploded, causing heavy smokes that could help their cover.

Luckily, the basement was not directly connected from the front door of the club, so the explosion was not noticeable, especially since there were no one around because of the sign at the entrance that the parking lot in the basement was full.

"Okay, what's your plan?" asked Kitsu to his partner, while Natsume seemed to be thinking.

"You're in better shape than mine, so you help Permy, while I take care of the Commoner. And maybe I'll kick that arrow guy's ass on my way." Said Natsume while thinking.

Kitsu flashed a grin and replied, "Great. Let's go. Koko will kill me if something happens to Permy either way."

Both of them continued running through the smoke, until they finally reached the basement, which was filled with the sound of machine guns.

But the fact that the enemy was using weapons in a public place, was not even near to the surprise that they were about to encounter inside.

* * *

The next update after a few months of delay *cheers*

After remaking and revising many drafts of this chapter, I finally managed to publish this one! It's a little bit too long, I think, but it is the best so far among the drafts ;)

Sorry for the grammatical errors,

Hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and would tell me your opinion about it by reviewing XD

Big hugs and thanks for :

The reviewers : **lolliepop**, **MikanXNatsume4ever98**, and **LexaStarr69**

The followers and favorites :**Lovesemoguys98**, **Emilyrose48**, **XxDarkDemonSlayerxX**, and **HanaYuuki**

And thank you for those silent readers as well, if there's any :))

- stars-dream18 -


	4. Magic Power

**~ It's Magic, It's Alice, It's Real ~**

"Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -

* * *

Mikan never thought that her life will change forever because of one word : Alice. From the girl with family conflicts, school issues, she encounters reality, revealed secrets, love, and danger. Imagination coming true, and becoming superheroes? Might be.

* * *

"Awaken its powers, and it will respect itself."

- Francis Wright -

* * *

CHAPTER III

Everything's a mess.

Kakashi cursed at his automatic gun that had run out of paralyzing ammo.

After all, he and his men didn't prepare a lot of bullets, more the less paralyzing ones. They only brought the most simple automatic guns which could only load a small number of bullets.

Kakashi never thought that they would use so much effort to capture a single girl. The cat lady was not as easy to get caught as he thought. She would run and attack them in surprise from unpredictable direction, and mostly behind their back. She appeared in a blink of an eye and quickly disappeared in the speed of lightning, leaving only blur images of her jumping to thin air. It was as if she was teleporting, but Kakashi knew better the different work of Teleporting Alice.

He signaled a few men to reload his gun, while he used another gun that was already reloaded. Then, hid behind one of the pillars, when a few of his men was being attacked simultaneously in a row by the girl.

He gritted his teeth, as he immediately aimed the girl and shot her continuously, hoping that one of the bullets got her. To his surprise, the girl suddenly disappeared again in a flash. Kakashi was about to change his position to another pillar, when suddenly his gun felt heavy. His eyes widen when he caught a glimpse of the girl, _squatting_ on his gun.

He felt his face got scratched a few times, and suddenly, he was laying on the cold ground with a few freshly thin slashed wounds on his chest.

Curse it.

The teenage girl was standing in front of him while holding _his_ gun, and snarled, "Too bad these bullets only work for Alices, or else you guys would _finally_ stay still."

Kakashi was about to yell something smart at her, when suddenly, the girl looked at another direction ; at her friend's direction, and leaped there in a blink of an eye without saying another word.

He finally realized that the Commoner was tortured by his senior, Takeru, which made him confused. As long as he knew, no one was supposed to break the Alice Law, but it seemed his senior didn't give a damn when breaking it. Well, if an Alice do not even follow their own law, why should he, a non-Alice user, would want to follow it?

Kakashi started to get up and reached his gun, when he realized that it was already shred into pieces. As a man and a trustworthy member of the organization, he indeed felt ashamed as he couldn't even last a second when he faced the teenage girl. He cursed inwardly and started to get a new weapon, as he determined to not lose the second time. He already thought of a good plan to take the girl down, and immediately gathered his men to do his tactic.

The damned cat woman wannabe _will_ be defeated.

Just when he finished talking to his men about his idea, Takeru thrust the cat lady for them to handle, and thus, they immediately started shooting her, with a good strategy in mind, unlike before.

* * *

Natsume rolled his eyes when he saw Kitsu fasten his pace and _flew_ ; as in floating in the air with a try-to-look-cool Superman pose ; towards Permy who seemed to be outnumbered in the fight.

He shook his head slowly this time. Actually, _they_ were supposed to _lay low_.

What a good way to start.

He averted his gaze to Permy, who was surprisingly getting cornered by the men, who certainly didn't have much skills in combat. They should not be a problem for her. But as Natsume observed carefully, it seemed that the men with guns figured out how good Permy is in close combat, while it would trouble her if she had to fight a long distanced fight. Thus, those men made a big gap between each other, which gave them more space and time to observe Permy's actions and attack her while she was taking one of their comrades.

Not bad of a strategy, actually.

Natsume saw Permy looked awfully relieved when she saw Kistu coming for backup, and also when he signaled her that he would take care of her friend ; the so called Commoner.

He looked around to search the arrow-guy and the Commoner in the other part of the basement, which as he observed, had a few broken cars and a big hole on the wall due to numerous gunshots from an automatic gun.

He didn't see any living being, until he saw a figure was laying still on the floor with her eyes closed, and leaning her head on one of the pillars for support.

Natsume immediately ran to her, but his eyes widen when he saw her familiar face.

She was the brunette who cut his conversation with Wakako.

Correction, he meant the _fangirl_, who _purposely_ cut his conversation with Wakako.

Well, or so he thought. But in the meantime, he tried to shove the thought and started to check her condition.

Her hair was a little bit sticking out to a few directions, and her face was very pale and covered in sweat. There are faint red bruises on her arms and legs, which made him frowned at the small wounds. She looked like she was sleeping, but her body gives the signal that she was at guard.

Before he can touch her shoulder to wake her up, the brunette already opened her eyes as she heard his footsteps. She stared at him in a bewildered look, which made him unconsciously tried to look at her with his calmest expression.

She squeezed her eyes and blink a few times, before she said in a hoarse voice, almost desperately, "Y-you, you were…with Wakako…I-I mean...did you…how.."

Natsume nodded quickly, trying to stop wasting her energy to talk, but he felt a little bit relieved that she recognized him too, "Come on, I'm going to get you out of here. Can you stand up?"

The girl motioned that her hands were tied behind her back, making him unpleased at the fact that she was held as hostage. He slowly lit a small fire with his index finger and burned the rope without her noticing.

The poor girl looked at him with a confused look, as if asking how could he able to release the rope, _magically, _without any sharp tools. But before she managed to say anything, Natsume already reached her shoulders and slowly lifted her upper arm up carefully.

Well, to his own record, she was not as light as he thought, since as he tried to lift her up, she certainly didn't move _at all_. It seemed the girl noticed what he was thinking, making her cheeks flushed a beet red, with the thought that a _guy_ just considered her _overweight_.

"H-hey, I-I'm sorry for being _fat_," she looked at him with a pretty angered face, and continued, "I can stand up by myself without your help." She averted her gaze away from him as she talked in a firmer tone than before, when she tried to protect her pride. She slowly got up with one of her hands supporting on the pillar, and she tried to shove the other one away from him.

Natsume's eyes lighten with pure amusement as he never thought this girl would be _overly_ sensitive. The girl looked at him with a half red and half pissed look when she noticed his amused expression, as he tried to hide the laughter dancing in his eyes.

Natsume chuckled at her and said, "I _didn't_ actually say that."

He carefully returned his grip one of her arm, and on the other side of her shoulder, before he continued, "Trust me, it would be harder to walk by yourself."

She sighed loudly, realizing that what he said was right, and decided to accept his kind offer. Natsume looked at the brunette, who looked so tired and limp, and wondered what had happened to her.

After a few steps, she gasped as she just remembered something.

"Wh-where is that guy?" She whispered slowly, while Natsume just raised one of his eyebrows, "Who?"

"That Takeru guy, who.." She gulped as she remembered what he did to her, and she chose to finally shake her head, and not telling him what happened first.

"He seemed to be the leader." She said again, making Natsume thought for a while, and he finally realized who was the _leader_ from the start. The guy with the Arrow Alice.

Natsume gritted his teeth and said, "I think I know who that is."

_So his name is Takeru._

Natsume was pissed with the fact that the Takeru person must have hurt the brunette until she was scared like that. He looked around and still saw nobody near them, so he quickly said, "Let's take you to a safe place first. He is not around, I can assure you."

The brunette nodded fast, as she would like to stay as far as she could from that Takeru too.

"Are you Permy's friend?" she asked when they were about to reach one of the pillars nearby.

"Yes." Natsume replied shortly. The brunette looked unsatisfied with his short answer, but she decided to stay silent.

They suddenly stopped walking, when Natsume fished out a key car from his pocket and pressed a button. One of the cars there lighted up, and Natsume said, "This is my car. Just stay here until everything's finished."

Natsume could see the amazed look from the brunette when he mentioned 'his car' as she widen her eyes in disbelieve at the sleek Mercedes, "How old are you, really? Are you sure you are old enough to have a car? Heck, this _kind_ of car, even."

Natsume blinked a few times as he just _couldn't_ believe this girl in front of him.

She might have faced the worst night in her life ; seeing gunshots fired everywhere, and got beaten too ; but now, _now _she was asking how old is _he_ to have his own car? Is the girl being serious?

She looked at him and bit her lips in doubt, whether she should get inside the car or not, "You are not on the bad guy's side, are you? You are not going to kidnap me? I mean, going inside a stranger's car is not-"

Natsume rolled his eyes and cut her words, "Who would ever want to kidnap _you_, or think of kidnapping at this kind of moment?"

Now he is pissed with the girl's attitude. He saved her and now she thought he was the bad guy. And to think she could still _think_ of such ridiculous thing between the ruckus they are facing.

Suddenly, the girl's eyes widen in terror, and she shoved him to the ground with her, "Watch out!"

Just in time, there were multiple arrows shot at their direction, but luckily they dodged them on time.

Natsume smirked with a dangerous look at the arrows, and said, "Finally, it's show time."

The brunette looked at him as if he was crazy, and so she yelled, "Are you insane?! We almost _died_ and you said it is 'show time'?!"

Natsume just shrugged and replied rather coldly, "You don't live in the same world as mine."

He realized that the brunette gulped as she felt that something was off with his tune, but he just tried to ignore her. He quickly pressed the button on his car key to lock the door again, before he shoved the key inside his pocket.

"You just hide behind the pillar, _no matter what_. I'll handle this."

Although Natsume realized the girl was about to protest _again_, he decided to swiftly jumped to the open space where Takeru could see him. He felt a faint throb on his chest due to his former wound, but he just endured it silently.

That kind of wound will not slow him down.

His crimson eyes were no longer calm, as they were replaced with a pair of cold and murderous ones. Right now, he is not a mere student in TAB High. He is a special student in the Alice Academy.

Takeru laughed at his appearance and snorted, "Ooh, the mighty Black Cat is protecting a helpless Commoner."

"Shut the hell up. What do you want, coming here and make such a trouble?" Natsume said back, making Takeru raised his eyebrows.

"Are you dumb? Did you forget what all of you have done this morning? Now if I can't bring the computer chip back to AAO, I will bring you and your puny friends instead to redeem my recklessness." He replied while smiling sickly.

"In your dream." Hissed Natsume in a light tune, as if he only thought of him as a passing wind.

With that, Natsume quickly sprinted towards the man, who alredy faced both of his palms towards his direction.

Natsume immediately ducked when the arrows were flying towards him, as he slid on the floor with increasing speed at Takeru. Unfortunately, Takeru already predicted his action, and so he kept on throwing arrows at Natsume who were on the floor, following all of his moves.

In a blink of an eye, Natsume already made a fire wall in front of Takeru before the arrows managed to hit him.

Takeru laughed and said, "Do you know that this is futile? My arrow will pierce through your fire, just like before!"

Takeru continued shooting aimlessly, as he could not see Natsume who was behind the fire.

The fire slowly ceased when Natsume suddenly leaped from the floor and punched him hard.

"Not this time, old man." He said in venom, as he approached Takeru, who fell on the ground due to the surprise attack.

"B-but, how can you-" Takeru looked at him in surprise, while Natsume quickly landed numerous of punches to his face.

"Your arrows are not fireproof after all. My fire can burn _anything_." replied Natsume in return.

Takeru tried to punch him back, but it was no use, as Natsume immediately dodged his punches accurately, and didn't give him any more chance to fight back.

"What have you done to the Commoner?" Natsume hissed at him between his fists.

Hearing this, Takeru laughed, earning another punch to his bloody face.

"What did you do to her?!" Natsume asked again, while pulling Takeru's shirt to his direction so he could face him clearly.

Takeru's mud eyes unexpectedly twinkled in a mocking look, while his gray hair started to color in red due to his spattered blood. But nevertheless, he didn't ask for pity at all.

He chuckled and said with a tint of happiness, "Not much you know, you were ruining the fun I had when you blew that door. She was a good toy to kill time, you see."

Natsume's eyes flared in anger at his answer, and he punched him again, "You broke the _law_ you bastard!"

He couldn't believe that this guy would dare to hurt an innocent girl who knew nothing of their world. Now it gives him more reason to beat the cruel hearted man.

Before he managed to land another punch to Takeru's face, suddenly he felt his back stung, making him turned his head immediately and took out a small needle that was shot to his left shoulder.

There, a few meters behind him, stood a man with a gun who just shot him with a paralyzing ammo. His face was scratched, which Natsume assumed to be Permy's doings, and his chest was a little bit wounded as well.

Natsume's eyes darken when he realized that the shot made his body slowly unable to move, "Shit. You bastard-"

Takeru, who realized that his opponent was distracted, quickly got up and punched him.

Natsume took a few steps back due to the impact. He could feel the taste of blood pooling in his mouth after that one punch, and his body was starting to be harder to move.

What a bad timing he had. This was not getting good.

"Good job, Kakashi, now you go take care of the other two." Said Takeru with a satisfied look, as he approached Natsume, whose body started to stiffen by each seconds.

Kakashi nodded at the order and went away, while taking a short glance at the infamous Black Cat, who were about to get plumped by his senior.

Maybe the Black Cat was not as good as the rumors say so, he thought before leaving his senior with him.

Takeru landed a good kick on Natsume's chest, making him fell down in pain. He glared at Takeru, who looked extremely satisfied, but unfortunately Natsume could not move his body at all. His wound from the morning started to reopen, and Takeru realized this.

"Who's the punch bag now, huh?" Takeru said and punched Natsume continuously in the face.

Then, he lifted him up and threw him to one of the pillars as hard as he could.

Natsume coughed blood, while his cloth was getting damped by the blood of his wound.

"It seemed my arrow _did_ hit you this morning. How does it feel like? Hurt?! Pain?! Don't underestimate _my_ Alice!" Takeru yelled in victory with a crazy look, as he threw Natsume a few meters away from him.

"You won't be able to move for 5 minutes, but it is more than enough for me to finish you." continued Takeru with an malicious look, as he approached Natsume again.

He took Natsume's collar, and lifted his body above the floor, with his face facing his.

Natsume felt uncomfortable when he saw Takeru's eyes lit menacingly, and he was right.

"Maybe you might want to taste a few arrows from close range? You know how easily I could shoot another arrow through your head, right now." Takeru laughed while swaying Natsume's body as if it were a rag doll.

Natsume could only mutter a few curses while coughing blood, which made Takeru smiled in return. His face was covered in his own blood, and his rib felt broken. He was completely weak. He was _useless_. And he despised it.

He knew that Takeru would not kill him, as he was considered a great asset to the underworld organizations. But he knew that he would only make it half alive out of this. No matter how hard he forced himself to move, his body just wouldn't respond. He already tried using his Alice every second, but his power was paralyzed. Unfortunately, the five senses inside his body was not immobile, so he could feel every impact that his body received from Takeru's hits.

Natsume let out a heavy sigh as he finally decided to give in when Takeru lifted his body and threatened to pierce him with his arrows.

Hopefully, he could still survive after this 5 minutes end.

All that he could do now, is wait.

Wait until this bloody 5 minutes crush his flesh and bones painfully .

He could see that Takeru was lifting his palm towards his arm, and so he prepared for the impact.

_It was going to be nasty._

Takeru smirked and slammed his palm to Natsume's arm, as Natsume's crimson eyes widen in return.

* * *

She was almost sure that this was a dream.

The crimson eyed guy whom she saw earlier turned out to be her savior, _and_ also Permy's friend.

What a _coincidence_. It seemed weird, how destiny tried to mock her in such a way.

Mikan could only watch in disbelieve as he _recklessly_ jumped into the open space where Takeru could spot him. She was ready to pull him back to hide, but it seemed that both he and Takeru acknowledged each other.

Mikan watched in disbelieve as the person called Takeru made some arrows appear from his bare palm, directed to the boy who saved her.

Slowly, she tried to digest all of these abnormality that had been happening in a row.

Aside of seeing real guns for the first time, and with one of them aimed at her, Permy transformed into a…_weredogcat._ And _now_, arrows just appear from that Takeru guy's _bare_ hands. What could possibly happen next? One of those men would grow a pair of wings? This is like a silly fiction novel coming to life in a bad time.

The sound of fast wind made her realize that Takeru's arrows were sliding in the air, and so she tried to yell at her savior o warn her. Unfortunately, her throat went really dry and her voice just lumped inside her throat. Mikan coughed a few times, to make air come into her lungs, before she focused on the fight that was happening before her eyes.

Mikan let out a relieved sigh when the raven haired boy effortlessly slid on the floor to dodge those sharp arrows, making all of these combat seemed like a child play for him. Mikan wondered if he was an _expert_ at fighting, like a delinquent in his school or something like that. Suddenly, a bright orange light appeared in front of Takeru, making Mikan gaze at it in surprise.

A big wall of fire about twice Takeru's height, was blocking him from hitting the crimson eyed guy, making Mikan's eyes flickered along with the crackling sound of the red-orange flare.

What on earth could possibly cause that sudden fire?

Mikan's eyes danced through the flame, trying to search for her savior's sliding figure on the floor. Could it be that, it was _him_ who created the fire?

Does he also have that…._supernatural_ power?

She slowly stood from her spot, and watch how the raven haired lad skillfully attack Takeru without breaking a sweat. He punched Takeru numerous times while yelling something that she could not hear, but it seemed that Takeru answered something that made him pissed even more.

Mikan's eyes were just about to relax when she saw her savior had the upper hand in the battle, when she heard a faint gun-shot like, but smoother, like the sound of the loud wind. Like a thin arrow was piercing through the air.

"Shit. You bastard-"

The voice of the crimson eyed guy broke the calm wall she was building in her mind, and she immediately searched for his figure who was rummaging in anger.

It was the last victorious moment for her knight.

Mikan started to tremble in fear as Takeru started to mercilessly hurt the raven haired lad.

Compared to what happened to her, her savior seemed so broken, like a toy that could do nothing but receive all the punches and kicks that Takeru gave him.

It was not fair that he got shot by a paralyzing bullet by surprise.

Suddenly, Takeru raised his hand towards his arm with a menacing look, and Mikan's eyes widen in terror. Although she could not read his mind, she knew that the raven haired boy would not be okay.

Takeru fiercely pushed his palm towards the boy, as the lad gasped in such a painful way, that Mikan's eyes started to fill with tears.

A single sharp arrow just pierced through his arm, making droplets of sticky red liquid dropped down from his wound, and started to form a puddle of blood on the ground. His crimson eyes seemed to blend more with the color of blood on his wounded body, as his pale face showed how painful the impact was.

Mikan yelped when Takeru suddenly pulled the arrow away from him harshly with a smirk.

She unconsciously ran towards them without thinking twice, as she could not face if she had to see her savior hurt more.

"S-stop it! Can't you see that he's hurt enough?!" Mikan yelled in the middle of her pace at Takeru, who was laughing as if he saw something funny.

"Little girl, you'll someday learn that revenge is sweeter than sugar." She saw Takeru released his grip on the raven haired lad who was struggling in pain.

Mikan looked at him with a grieve look, and immediately approached him as fast as she could. She quickly kneeled next to him, and put her hand on his head lightly, trying to soothe him who was panting hard from the impact.

She didn't care if her hands were tainted by blood, although she had never been able to stand the sight of it, but this time, she tried her hardest to make sure that her savior is _alive_. She pulled his back slowly towards the pillar behind him, so he finally seated on the floor with his head leaning limply at the pillar. The crimson eyed lad finally opened his eyes, and looked at her figure in surprise. He slowly said with frustration clear in his voice, "Why are you here?! Damn it, I told you to hide!"

Mikan took a deep breath and tried to form the words that were lumping in her throat, "I-I can't stand how bad you're hurt. S-so, stop moving, and just stay still, please. Hold on, okay? I'll look for help. Y-you're going to be al- "

Before she noticed, Takeru already took her arm and shoved her a few meters back, making her savior's crimson eyes flickered in anger.

"Not so fast, girly. What makes you think I would let _you_ do that?" Takeru smirked while cracking his knuckles. "Should I kill you in his place? Still fresh and not bleeding, aren't you?"

The raven haired lad immediately yelled, "Don't you dare break the law, you son of a-"

But then, his body was starting to force him to cough more blood, making his face become paler and paler.

Unfortunately, Takeru just ignored him and said, "Well well well, Black Cat, you are one to talk. Aren't you the one who _always_ break the law?"

The said boy just gritted his teeth, as in what Takeru said was right, and he actually did _not_ have the place to talk like that.

Mikan's eyes widen as she scrambled to the back, trying to get away from him.

"You know that distance is not a difficult matter for me. You've seen my ability, haven't you? Tsk. And to think that I would let a mere Commoner to witness my amazing power." continued Takeru, who was approaching her slowly.

Mikan tried to stand up so she could run, but suddenly, she saw a blur was on top of Takeru that made him fall a few meters back.

"Permy!" She immediatey yelled in relieve at her friend, who didn't seem to be hurt.

The said girl looked at her with a very calmed look, and she let out a suppressed sigh. "Mikan! Thank God you're alright. Where is-"

Permy quickly averted her gaze on the raven haired near her who was beaten badly, as she gasped, "Oh my goodness! Natsume, are you-"

The young lad quickly uttered the few words that he managed to speak out between his cough, "I'm..fine. Where's.. Kitsu?"

Permy immediately focused her gaze on Takeru, as she answered, "Taking care the rest of the guys. They have a good strategy and unfair weapons, but I'm sure he can handle them alone."

Mikan took a glance at the direction of the armed men, who seemed to be fighting a guy with dirty blonde hair. She just noticed that it was not only the crimson eyed guy who came to help them.

She looked back at Permy, who was running towards Takeru and slashed his chest. But that was not enough to bring him down. Takeru managed to grab her arm and twisted it with such force that made Permy screamed in agony.

He hit Permy's stomach which made a few cracking sounds, and threw her to Mikan's direction, making Mikan quickly tried to catch her. She didn't do her best at preventing Permy to fall flat to the ground, but at least her friend didn't hit the floor directly.

Takeru wiped the blood on the corner of his mouth, and took a glance at the raven haired lad who was trying to move from his position, but failed. It seemed that the effect of the paralyzing bullets was starting to worn out little by little, but not just yet.

He looked at the direction of the other young lad with dirty blonde hair, who was fighting his underlings, and it seemed that his men were able to keep him busy to notice what was happening.

Takeru took the chance to walk towards Mikan, who was holding Permy that was still unable to move after being hit.

Mikan realized that Takeru was approaching them, but she tried to not faze at his presence. She could not possibly run and leave Permy there, could she?

She started to try pulling Permy to go away from that place, but Permy's body seemed to refuse her effort.

"Damn you, Takeru! Don't you _dare_ hurt any of them!" Natsume struggled to stood up and tried to use his Alice, but it was no use. Most of the nerves on his body were still paralyzed, making him fall again.

Permy, who was wincing in pain, immediately looked at Mikan and yelled, "Run, Mikan! Hurry up and hide! He will shoot you!"

Mikan nervously looked at Takeru, and then looked at Permy with wavering eyes, "He will shoot you if I run! I'm not leaving you."

Mikan tried to pull Permy again, but suddenly, a gust of wind was heard, and she felt that her right leg throbbed. An arrow just barely scratched it, but it managed to surprise her, making her lost her balance.

Mikan kneeled to the ground while holding her bleeding calf, as she looked at Takeru with hatred.

"You're not going anywhere, little girl. You can try to run, but your friend here will be dead instead." Takeru hissed as he started to face his palm towards them.

Permy looked at Mikan with a panic look, as she said, "Mikan, please, run!"

Mikan ignored Permy's words as she stared at Takeru, "We're friends, Permy. I will not leave you no matter what."

Takeru smirked at her words, and finally said, "You have guts, Commoner, to look at me in the eyes like that. Too bad you're going to die."

Mikan saw numerous arrows that started to form in slow motion from both of Takeru's palms, as if he was doing it on purpose. It seemed that he wanted to scare her more and more.

She slowly positioned herself in front of Permy, and prayed that she would still be alive after receiving the painful hits.

Tears were started to form on the corner of her eyes, but she tried to not bother them.

She was afraid. She could not deny that. She was afraid of the pain, and she was afraid of the fact that she might literally…_die_.

All the things that had happened until then was real, and that was no playing joke to stake your life for your friend.

She'd always thought that if she die, she might be able to meet her parents.

But is she satisfied enough to only _live_ in this world for sixteen years?

No.

She does not want to die_._

Mikan just silently pleaded in her heart that a miracle might happen.

_Could somebody save her?_

She could hear the faint gush of wind of the flying arrows towards her, making her fist tighten as she put her crossed hands closer to her body.

_Or maybe it is time to stop waiting, and save yourself on your own, _a confident voice inside her mind reminded her, tried to make her becoming a strong girl, like she'd always wanted to be.

Mikan inhaled loudly as she _felt_ the sound of wind getting louder.

If only she has the ability like her friend. If only she has the ability like Permy, like her saviors…

If only she has such kind of…_power.._to help her….

_She might survive the hits._

She slowly opened her eyes, and tried to face the upcoming danger with the last bit of courage that she had. Even if she does not possess those kind of ability, does not mean she should cower in fear like she did.

As soon as her bravery built inside, Mikan felt a warm throb in her chest.

Was it the arrow?

No, she could feel that it was a different kind of pain. Not a physical one, but she could clearly felt it.

She thought that maybe it was the feeling when you know you were about to die, and your body was preparing for the moment.

Surprisingly, the throbbing warmth started to spread to her whole body, right from her chest, to her arms, legs, and until her whole body felt so warm and at ease.

Slowly, she had the feeling like she was on a grassy field in the middle of a breezy summer. There, were her parents, who were smiling at her like they always did, as they waved at her direction gracefully.

Mikan's tears were starting to flow down. It had been a long time since she last imagined her parents, and oh how she missed them so bad.

Is it time to meet them at last?

A faint blue light was slowly hazing her vision in a motioning circle. She felt that a purifying silvery blue light seemed to be pouring out of her soul, as her body became weak and she finally let herself fall front to the ground after that blinding light from inside her was bursting out.

Mikan slowly closed her eyes, as her energy felt like it had been drained until the very last drop.

_Oh how she wished that she does have that kind of magic power to save them all._

* * *

Those men were so tricky to handle with.

They were quite sneaky to choose to form long distance from each other, which made him harder to attack them all at once, especially after Permy was gone to save her friend, making them stopped the good teamwork that they had been doing.

Those armed men seemed to have unlimited number of guns and ammos, compared to him who came here with simply _nothing_. Not even a pocket knife.

Although he knew that these men were not really skillful, it was still troublesome when they just brutally shot him all at once.

Kitsu kept on hiding behind the pillars, waiting for the perfect moment when he could fly in fast speed towards them, and gave them a sudden attack.

There were only half of the men left who were still able to move, when suddenly a blinding light filled the basement.

Kitsu's eyes widen in shock, and so was everyone on that floor, but a few seconds after that, he immediately floated in the air, and used the opportunity to attack all of those surprised men.

He hit one of the men, and pulled him up to the air with him. The man was terribly surprised, as he started to yell for help. But before his fellows were managed to get the message, they were already hit by their own friends like a domino, because all of them were pushed by Kitsu, who was flying at their direction in fast speed.

Kitsu smirked when all of the men already collapsed after he threw them towards the concrete wall, which means his job there was complete, "Twenty people down."

He unloaded all of the guns from those men and scattered the ammos on the floor, and ran towards the place where Natsume and Permy should be fighting, but the sight made him dumfounded completely.

There, stood the man who had the Arrow Alice, yelling curses at Permy who was wounded on the floor with an unfamiliar brunette ; the Commoner, he thought, who seemed to have passed out. Near the Arrow-Aliced man, stood a limp Nastume, who was beaten badly judging from the oozing blood from his head, chest, and arm, but he looked really surprised as well.

Now he wondered, how come everybody looked _surprised_? Definitely not because of his presence here.

"T-That was impossible! What did _she_ do?! What kind of stupid trick is this, huh?! Where did my arrows go? What have you bitches done?!" The guy with Arrow Alice shouted like a lunatic to Permy, who was looking at her friend in worry and looked at the guy with unsure look.

Kitsu was about to confront him for yelling weird things at his friends, but a man with glasses suddenly appeared from the row of cars.

He looked at the teens around him, and his fellow acquaintance in the AAO, before he slowly speak, "What a surprise. This is one kind of discovery we have here."

Kitsu looked at him, and his face immediately paled.

_That man was not supposed to be mingling in a place like this._

The said man looked at his fellow member who seemed to not understand his words, and so he added, "Change of plans, Takeru. Let's get out of here. I'm sure the higher-ups would be interested in our…_inventory _tonight."

As he finished saying, a police siren was heard, and so the person called Takeru immediately followed him towards a black SUV, "You owe me one heck of explanation, Shinzou."

The man with glasses just shrugged, as he lifted his hand towards the mountain of men who were defeated by Kitsu. Suddenly, a few pipes from inside the ceiling fell down, and circled those men securely, as if they were puppets, making Kitsu twitched at the sight.

He was right. This man should _not_ be here.

Suddenly, a black truck that looked like what the military use appeared from the entrance, and stopped in front of those men. The rear door opened automatically, but Kitsu knew better that the truck did not actually _have_ any automatic functions.

The man with glasses shoved his hand lazily, and the pipes suddenly moved the men into the truck, like a snake that was squeezing it's preys while dragging them to it's lair.

"Useless people." He muttered, as the rear door closed again. "They're lucky that Boss is kind enough to let them live."

The driver of the truck quickly started the engine, and drove away in seconds, as if nothing just happened.

Takeru entered the passenger seat of the SUV while saying in a growl, "We'll meet again next time, little pricks."

After those last words, the SUV swiftly drove away to the exit, leaving them as if there were no gunshots and fighting scenes just then, except for the holes on the wall because of the bullet shots, and the shred of ammos and weapons spread on the floor.

Kitsu frowned at the sight, before he finally said in sarcasm, "Clean like always."

He turned his head on his friends, and continued, "Before my curiosity started to blew up from my head, why don't we go now? The Police are coming."

Suddenly, the girl who passed out slowly opened her eyes and mumble a few things, making Permy immediately tried to reach her, while Natsume took a glance at Kitsu.

"You drive. My car." Natsume said shortly, before he shoved out his car key from his pocket, and clicked a button, making his black car lighted up.

He threw the key to Kitsu, who caught it with ease, and quickly jogged to the car and started the engine. It was a good thing that Natsume brought his car with him, since neither he nor Permy actually _had_ a car, considering their ranks in the academy.

He swiftly drove it and stopped when it reached besides Natsume.

"How about the girl?" asked Kitsu while going out of the car.

Permy immediately looked up for the first time, and said, "She's coming."

Kitsu raised one of his eyebrows, and replied, "Are you sure? She's a-"

"She's seen enough. She's coming." Said Natsume quickly, before he approached Permy and the girl to help them walk to the car.

Kitsu immediately helped them as well, and noticed that a few bones in Permy's rib seemed to be dislocated a bit, so he helped her to stand up, while Natsume tried to wake the brunette up.

After Kitsu managed to take Permy inside the passenger seat, he walked back to where Natsume was, only to be surprised that the just-awaken-girl was helping his buddy to stand up instead.

"God, Natsume. You never finished getting hurt, are you?" With that, Kitsu took one of Natsume's arm, and put it around his own shoulder, while the brunette who was holding Natsume's other arm took a glance at Kistu unsurely.

Kitsu flashed her a smile, and said, "Hi, I'm Kitsu Neme. Nice to meet you."

Natsume rolled his eyes and snorted, "Seriously, man. You have time for introduction while practically _dragging_ me to the car, and hoping that the Police won't come fast."

"Well, blame your paralyzed nerves. It seemed the bullets were more effective than I thought." Kistu answered lightly, earning a few curses from Natsume.

The brunette besides him giggled softly, and said with a bitter smile, "I'm Mikan Nakigawa. Nice to meet you too."

* * *

Permy squinted her eyebrows as she pushed a few buttons on the dashboard and near the stereo randomly.

"I don't understand this car. Where is that stupid button?" she hissed while franticly pushed all the buttons that she could see, making quite a disturbing beeping noises inside the car.

"Damn it, Permy, you'll ruin Natsume's car." replied Kitsu while also searching for the certain button, despite what was happening inside the car ; the lights were flickering, the window wipers were moving randomly, and the rear mirrors were motioning back and forth, because he and Permy pushed _every _buttons there.

Mikan took a glance at Natsume, who was also sitting in the passenger seat with her, while holding his chest and panted once in a while. He immediately glared at them for slowly destroying his precious car.

"Just push the damned button near the steering wheel. The small red colored one." Natsume said in a pissed tone.

They haven't gone out of the basement yet, which made Mikan sweat dropped a little bit.

Are they really _experts_ at these kind of things?

Kitsu fortunately saw the super small red button, which is almost unnoticeable, and immediately clicked it. The small black screen for the GPA system suddenly grew bigger and shoved to the front until it was parallel with the dashboard, as the screen flashed a yellow star emblem with thin white linings in the border and a bold red 'A' letter in the middle.

After that, the screen changed color into green and indicate a handprint identification.

Kitsu quickly put his left palm over the screen, while his hand was scanned.

"Falcion, Identified." The screen let out a small approving beep, before suddenly the stereo flipped back, showing a panel of buttons that looked unfamiliar to Mikan.

Kitsu pressed a few buttons at the same time in such a hurry, that Mikan's eyes barely able to follow his hands.

Suddenly, Mikan felt that the car literally _shifted_ a little bit bigger in width, making her frowned at the fact. She thought that she might be hallucinating.

Unknown to her, the numbers on the white plate-number of the car also transformed into two bold black 'A.A' letters, , both in the front and at the back of the car. The silver Mercedes emblem on the front and the back of the car also turned into the shape of a thinly shaped star with small 'A' letter in the middle.

Mikan also realized that the windows were getting darker, as the buttons and indicators inside of the car were illuminated with not yellow color, but with light blue ones.

She gasped at the fact that all of the stuffs happening inside the car seemed impossible and only happens in the futuristic movies, but Permy just smirked as if she knew what Mikan was thinking and said, "No, Mikan, this is real. Now nobody from outside of the car can see us inside."

"O-okay.." Mikan blushed as she looked like a small girl who just saw the snow for the first time.

Kistu started to pushed the gear shift and hit the gas pedal to drive the car in full speed.

On their way out, Mikan could see a few cops, along with a few people from the party who were curious of what's happening, also a few paparazzi that Wakako invited. It seemed that those people saw the broken iron gate of the parking lot, but they were too afraid to come in before the cops do, so they just waited outside to see what was going to happen next.

Permy immediately pushed one of the buttons on the panel, which made the plate number disappeared, so the paparazzi could not see the initial written there.

The police tried to stop them, and even shoved their guns toward them, but Kitsu kept on driving pass them in fast speed without any hesitation.

Mikan looked at Kitsu and said, "Won't the Police help us?"

Kitsu took a glance at Mikan from the front mirror, then he looked at Permy, doubting whether he should answer or not.

Permy hesitated for a second and said, "Sorry Mikan, you are still considered…an outsider, yet you already know so much. We cannot break the rules."

Mikan slowly nodded, realizing that she seemed to be really living in a much different word than them.

She just met people with.._superpowers_, or so what she would call them.

Maybe those rumors that often hanged around for these past centuries about people with supernatural occurrence were true after all. But they have been kept a secret for all this time.

Well, it's not like she dislike these kind of magic-kinda-thing, but to think that they were _actually_ real, not just inside her imagination, and happened to her own _friend_, was a pretty big surprise for her.

Permy was busily messaging someone with her iPhone that seemed to survive all of the fights she'd been through, and so there was an eerie silent in the car.

Mikan squeezed her eyes shut, trying to calm herself down, before realizing one important thing.

"I don't know if I'm supposed to ask this, but..why did that Takeru guy stopped shooting us? I mean, I even thought I was going to _die_, but suddenly when I opened my eyes, all of the fights had stopped. And I'm still alive." Mikan quickly said, as she was _dying_ to know the answer.

She _need_ to know, because she can feel that it is important for her. She was seeing silvery-blue lights and even felt a throb in her chest before the arrows seemed to hit her, and she just had to know the reason why.

Natsume suddenly looked at her intensely with his deep and tired crimson eyes, making Mikan at first considered to shyly look away, but she finally decided to tilt her head a little to the side, waiting for the answer.

"That's what we're trying to figure out too." He said calmly, while earning unsure nods from Permy and Kitsu as well.

Mikan looked down and nodded, "Okay."

So it seemed that she had to patiently wait for the answers to come.

And hopefully _soon_.

Mikan took a deep breath and decided to ask one last question, "Can you guys at least tell me where are we going?"

All of the curiosity inside her was pilling up badly, and she at least had to know _something_.

Upon hearing that, Natsume scoffed, and Kistu just chuckled when he saw Natsume's reaction, while Permy's jade eyes brighten a bit, before she answered in the surest tone that she had spoken that night.

"We're going to the Alice Academy."

* * *

Woah! It ended up longer than I thought, but I'm so glad I finally updated ^^

Hope you guys like to read it, cause I simply adore the ending *smirk*

Many many thanks to these people, whom my stories will be dedicated to :

The reviewers : **AnimeMango**, **TophFan**, **michan-natsu**, and **ApatheticEyes**

The follower and favorites : **Maximum Immortality** and **StellarUnit**

And if there are any, to the silent readers as well ;)

Sorry for grammatical errors, but thanks for reading the chapters, and have a good day :D

~best regards, stars-dream18~


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